SEIU breathed new life into a rapidly decaying labor movement through bringing hundreds of thousands of workers into the movement. Throughout the 1990s, unions would emerge as a vehicle of upward social mobility and the avenue to channel rising Latino political power in the Southwest. The trend continued into the 2000s and by 2007, labor saw its membership increase for the first time since 1983. Leaders expected the Obama years to be a favorable time, but instead it is the opposite.

Follow the rise and the ‘on hold’ nature of the labor movement right now. Also, check out key dates in the campaign to organize Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego. Look out for + icons along the bottom of the timeline to zoom in and out.