Stronger Together

  • The centerpiece of the mural is a tree that represents the steady roots and far-reaching branches of the union.
  • Once the design was drafted and modified based on suggestions from union members, the team works on stretched canvas in the Groundswell studio, for later installation in the lobby of SEIU’s headquarters.
  •  The mural is first gridded out with chalk lines, and then figures are added with pencil. Through this project, the youth learned how to draw the human form.
  • These dedicated teens created “Stronger Together” to spread the message about the importance of the workers represented by SEIU.
  • Families gather behind the janitorial, cleaning, security, and doorman workers who contribute so much to their communities.

Project Description

Youth participating in Groundswell’s afterschool Teen Empowerment Mural Apprenticeship (TEMA) program created a mural for the lobby of Trade Union SEIU 32BJ’s headquarters in Lower Manhattan. SEIU represents workers in the janitorial, cleaning, security, and doorman sectors of employment. In January, TEMA participants met with over 40 rank and file union members and brainstormed ideas for the theme of the mural. The TEMA participants decided to focus on the diversity of the membership and the strength and unity of 32BJ. Inspired by their meeting with union members, the youth artists researched the history of SEIU and began to create a design. The finished work includes vignettes of union members at their jobs as doormen, office cleaners, window cleaners, and janitors. A strong central group of figures symbolizes both the diversity of the membership and the sense of unity and solidarity felt by all union members. The mural was installed in the lobby and dedicated in June with a joyous unveiling attended by youth participants, their family members, and 32BJ members.

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Project Info

Fun Facts

Suggested Activity
Translate all the text written along the mural’s border and on the banners.
Fun Fact
SEIU stands for Service Employees International Union.
Research
In the mid-1800s, labor unions began forming as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Although the Revolution brought many jobs, the conditions were poor and the wages unfair. Unions seek to protect workers’ rights and to guarantee them better benefits.