Flora Johnson
Flora Johnson is 90 years old and still a homecare worker caring for her son, who has cerebral palsy. She joined ACORN’s Local 880 in 2000 after repeated recruitment attempts by organizer Ross Fitzgerald. She tells the story of how she was first suspicious, but how he finally won her over. She made a commitment to being a member for life and has been an active organizer ever since, including in her retirement from the union. She was mentored by Helen Miller and became the last president of SEIU Local 880, from 2006-2008 before it merged with two other SEIU healthcare locals to form SEIU Healthcare Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kansas (SEIU HCIIMK). She was chairperson of the board of SEIU HCIIMK from 2008-2017. She was also a national ACORN executive board member from 2006-2008, and present when the board voted to fire ACORN founder Wade Rathke. She says she was strongly influenced by ACORN’s Maude Hurd and Susanne Walls. In this interview, she describes specific collective bargaining actions, including negotiating with former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, and insisted that “a period and two zeros” be added to to the proposed five cent raise. She also worked on the ACORN housing campaign in 2006 to bring down mortgage rates. She herself had a mortgage with Countrywide that had ballooned from $900/month to $1500/month. After the campaign, her mortgage was reduced to $700/month. Her greatest hightlight was introducing then-IL senator Barack Obama when he announced his run for president. She tells a story about her two conversations with him, urging him to run first for the Illinois senate, then for U.S. president — assuring him that the union would back him. This interview may be of interest to those who want to learn about the work of Black women in the homecare movement, their actions to build a strong union, and their lifelong commitment towards justice and community well-being.