SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry leads the installation of officers to the Board of Directors. From right, Jeremy Dupuis, Germano Martins, Frank Wike-Clerk and John Hattan are sworn in as directors. Terry Locke, who was elected to the board’s County and Municipal seat, was unable to attend convention due to work requirements.
Nominations for one Board Director from private sector, one Board Director for County and Municipalities, and three Directors opened. Each person nominating a candidate was allowed three minutes to present information about their candidate.
Nominated candidates were then allotted five minutes each to address the delegates. In lieu of a traditional candidate’s speech, incumbent Director Germano Martins launched into an impassioned address regarding the issue of the extremely wealthy and powerful stealing the money of working class Americans saying, “We are at a crossroads here – years ago I had all benefits – a little at a time, they took it back. The wealthy and powerful one percent owns everything. They don’t own that stuff, they stole it. Now we want it back.” This sentiment was voiced again later in the morning by guest speaker and presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The outcomes of the elections were: Director Private Sector – Frank Wike-Clerk; Director County and Municipality – Terry Locke; Directors – Jeremy Dupuis, John Hattan and Germano Martins. One hundred thirteen delegates voted.