Team 221: Secret Weapon from San Diego!

Our new "sister" union kicks off partnership in Nashville elections

As part of their new "Building A Union, Bridging A Nation" initiative, SEIU Local 221 in San Diego, California officially "adopted" Local 205 as a "sister union".  To solidify the new partnership, Local 221 sent six activists to help our local in the Sept. 11 runoff elections in Nashville.

Thanks to the volunteer efforts of Eric Banks, Melinda Battenburg, Christa Fink, Mathew Kostrinsky, Carlos Marquez, and Jacob Regalado, a crack team of trained union political activists was able to provide key last-minute support to several of our candidates and in our get out the vote drive for local members.

"Team 221 was an unexpected surprise in this election cycle and helped make the difference," said Mark Naccarato, political coordinator for Local 205.  "Thanks to their hard work and tireless committment, we were able to spread our net a little wider and help out in some races we wouldn't normally had the manpower to do so in.  Oh, and did I mention that they were a lot of fun to hang out with?"

Whether it was "roadblocking" (visibility for a candidate at an intersection) for Lonnell Matthews in Bordeaux or door-to-door canvassing for Anna Page in Woodbine, Team 221 filled in the gaps along with local MPO's Amy Wheeler and James Stricklin, who also worked tirelessly to help our candidates win.

Our heartfelt thanks go out to Team 221 and to all who helped make Election 2007 a win for workers!