The Union Leader Who Changed How We Think About Work

By the time Mary Kay Henry stepped down from the presidency of the Service Employees International Union, she and the union had helped change how we think about work. In 2012, SEIU backed striking fast-food workers in the city who were advocating for what was then a bold demand: a $15-per-hour minimum wage and a union. A decade later, the efforts of Fight for $15 and a Union led to an estimated 26 million workers winning $150 billion in higher pay. (The campaign is now known as the Fight for a Union.) Three years ago, Starbucks baristas in Buffalo, New York, launched what would become a high-profile unionization campaign with Workers United, a SEIU affiliate; now, over 400 other stores have voted to unionize. Workers led the charge. Henry lent them critical support. Now, it’s more widely accepted that the federal minimum wage is too low, that unions are beneficial, and that the way we work in America should transform.

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