The SEIU International Indigenous Peoples Caucus:
This Native American Heritage Month, we honor the First Peoples of Turtle Island the original caretakers of these lands and waters whose blood, brilliance, and labor continue to sustain nations. Our stories are not myths of the past; they are living testaments to endurance, innovation, and resistance.
Before colonization divided our nations with borders, treaties, and lies, Indigenous peoples lived in balance guided by responsibility to land, water, and one another. Those same values of community and shared labor shaped what the world now calls “solidarity.” But colonization didn’t just steal land it fractured our treaties, our families, and our economies. It created systems that turned cooperation into competition, and survival into a struggle for wage and worth. Yet still, we labored. Still, we created. Still, we rise.
We lift up the names of Indigenous heroes men and women whose courage shaped Turtle Island:
Chief Joseph (Nimiipuu/Nez Perce) who declared, “I will fight no more forever,” after leading his people with dignity through impossible odds.
Sitting Bull (Hunk-papa Lakota) visionary leader who defended his people’s sovereignty and spiritual freedom.
Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee Nation) the first female Principal Chief, who led her people with humility, vision, and compassion.
Toypurina (Tongva) who resisted the Spanish missions and inspired generations of Indigenous women to stand in their power.
Annie Dodge Wauneka (Diné/Navajo Nation) who brought health reform and education to her people long before “public health” had a name.
Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) the first Native Cabinet Secretary in U.S. history, standing at the heart of the same government that once sought our erasure.
Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox Nation) Olympic champion, professional football and baseball player, and laborer, who showed the world that Native excellence cannot be confined or erased.
Louis Tewanima (Hopi) two-time Olympian and long-distance runner who carried his people’s endurance with every step.
From agriculture and medicine to democratic governance and ecological science, Indigenous peoples gave the world more than we have ever been credited for. Corn, potatoes, chocolate, irrigation, surgical tools, and modern political systems all carry the fingerprints of Indigenous genius. Even professional sports owe deep debts to Indigenous athletes like Thorpe and Tewanima, whose skill and spirit shaped early American athletics often without recognition or fair pay.
In labor, Indigenous workers have long stood at the intersection of survival and resistance. We were the first to labor on this land not by choice, but by right. Native farmworkers, ironworkers, teachers, health care professionals, and government employees continue that legacy. But even within unions, our presence is too often forgotten or tokenized.
Broken treaties mirror the broken promises of labor systems that profit off Indigenous work without honoring Indigenous humanity. Just as our ancestors demanded that the United States uphold its treaty obligations, we demand that unions honor their promises of inclusion, dignity, and respect for all workers especially those whose lands they organize upon.
As members of SEIU’s Indigenous Peoples Caucus, we remind our siblings in labor that there is no workers’ justice without Indigenous justice. Our struggle is not separate it is the foundation of every fight for fair wages, safety, and dignity on the job.
This month and every month, we call on our union family to:
- Learn the treaties, languages, and tribal nations of the land where you work.
- Uplift Indigenous workers and leaders within your locals.
- Support Indigenous sovereignty movements that defend water, land, and life.
- Acknowledge that the labor movement stands on stolen land built by Indigenous hands.
We are still here still planting, still protecting, still fighting, and still rising. Our ancestors’ songs echo in every union chant for justice.
In solidarity,
The SEIU International Indigenous Peoples Caucus
“From the first treaties to the first picket lines, our struggle has always been about honoring the sacred land, labor, and life.”
Join Us at the Following Event this Month: