Service Employees International Union. Local 32B-32J (New York, N.Y.)

Service Employees International Union (SEIU), 32BJ is a New York based property service workers union, made up of approximately 120,000 workers (as of this writing in 2013). In 1921, a group of janitors formed the Building Service Employees International Union by William Quesse. Through winning two large strikes in the 1930s, the local had grown to 19,000 workers. The union was active during World War II supporting the war effort, they contributed $75,000 to the "labor war chest," ambulances, and a bomber, "The Spirit of 32B," to the Army Air Corps. In 1968 the union was renamed the Service Employees International Union and in 1977, the Local 32B union had merged with Local 32J. Today, the union's members consists of primarily janitors, property maintenance workers, doormen, security officers, window cleaners, building engineers, and school and food service workers.

From the guide to the Service Employees International Union, Local 32BJ Photographs, 1938-1984, (Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive)