April Verrett, the newly elected international president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), is ready to come out the gate running––or, at least, organizing.
Verrett says she plans to lead SEIU in a campaign of helping to unionize up to a million new workers over the next 10 years.
Talking with people about unions and helping them to understand that joining a worker’s organization is a way to build collective power is part of Verrett’s progressive stance. She said that “ultimately, as an organizer, I want to be able to say I did something to help end poverty and poverty-wage work in America.”
She told the Amsterdam News that “I believe we are in a moment of transformation. To be able to build enough worker power to end poverty-wage work calls on us to transform our labor movement—to organize like never before, and to make sure we take advantage of the newfound interest that many working people have in unions, particularly young people, and focus our effort on organizing everyone, particularly organizing those of us that have been the most marginalized: low-wage workers, workers of color, Black workers, women workers. That is how I’m choosing to use my time—to really lean in and focus us on this goal.”
Verrett comes from an organizing background. After her parents died, she was raised on the South Side of Chicago by her grandmother, who was a union steward at SEIU Local 46. As a steward, her grandmother guided other employees and showed them how they could unite to gain better pay and benefits.
Verrett took the example of her grandmother’s organizing zeal and has spent decades supporting community organizing. In addition to helping found Chicago’s United Working Families organization, Verrett has worked within the SEIU as president of California’s SEIU Local 2015, chair of the SEIU National Home Care Council, executive vice president of SEIU Healthcare Illinois and Indiana (HCII), and most recently for two years as SEIU’s secretary-treasurer.
This past May, SEIU members elected Verrett to serve as their international president, making her the SEIU’s first Black female leader. She is serving as president after the 14-year reign of Mary Kay Henry, the union’s first white female and LGBTQ president.
With nearly 2 million members, SEIU is one of the largest unions in the country. Its workers are employed in more than 100 occupations throughout the United States and in Canada. The union traditionally organizes healthcare workers; public service employees; and people who work in property maintenance jobs, such as janitors and security guards.
An SEIU spokesperson said that, demographically, more than half of its members are women: They “are just roughly about a quarter Black, a quarter Latino, and just under 10 percent Asian American and Pacific Islander.”
SEIU’s retiring union president was a major backer of the Fight for $15 and a union movement that helped organize fast-food workers across the nation. Verrett said she wants SEIU to continue to bear down on its core industries, and to further its inroads into industries where workers don’t have representation.
“Our goal is to organize those who have been the most marginalized, and that’s often folks who work in the gig economy,” Verrett said. “Today, we represent over 700,000 caregivers, workers in home care—it’s the fastest-growing job classification in the country. It will continue to be a big area of focus for us. And we will continue to organize folks in the fast-food industry, in airports.
“We are an organizing union, whether it’s organizing not-yet union workers or organizing voters. It’s all about how we are organizing workers, putting workers in motion to have agency and self-determination over their own lives. We’re organizing to build power, whether it’s to build power in the workplace or build a new power at the ballot box. And we are a union that’s very invested in electoral politics. Across our union, we’re going to spend over $200 million in this [national election] cycle, leading up to November, to make sure we contact 6 million [of what] I call…high-opportunity voters—others call them infrequent voters or most simply voters, but we are going to contact 6 million voters, largely voters of color, in eight key battleground states, to make sure we elect pro-union champions up and down the ballot.”
Legal Argument: Formal Complaint Under the SEIU Constitution
Issue
Whether the 2024 SEIU International Convention elections violated members’ rights as stipulated under the SEIU Constitution, the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), and relevant federal statutes.
Rule
SEIU Constitution: Article XVII – Trials and Appeals, Section 1
Local Unions, their officers or members, and officers of any affiliated body, and officers of the International Union may be charged with:
Violation of any specific provision of this Constitution or of the Constitution and Bylaws of the Local Union;
Engaging in corrupt or unethical practices or racketeering.
Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), 29 U.S.C. 411 (Bill of Rights of Members of Labor Organizations)
SEC. 101(a)(1) – Equal Rights: Every member of a labor organization shall have equal rights and privileges to nominate candidates, to vote in elections or referendums, to attend membership meetings, and to participate in deliberations and voting upon the business of such meetings, subject to reasonable rules and regulations in such organization’s constitution and bylaws.
LMRDA, 29 U.S.C. 481(c)
Every labor organization and its officers shall comply with all reasonable requests of any candidate to distribute campaign literature at the candidate’s expense and refrain from discrimination in favor of or against any candidate.
LMRDA, 29 U.S.C. 481(e)
A reasonable opportunity shall be given for the nomination of candidates, and members must be provided with notice of the election at least fifteen days prior. Members have the right to vote for candidates of their choice without improper interference.
Application
Violation of Notification Requirements:
According to the 2023 SEIU International LM-2 report, the union has 1,845,500 members. Most members were not notified of the election, a fundamental union activity. Federal law mandates that unions provide timely notice of nominations to all members. The lack of notification violated members’ rights under 29 U.S.C. 411(a)(1), which ensures equal rights and privileges to nominate candidates and participate in elections.
Unfair Election Practices:
The election was not conducted fairly or democratically. Only one candidate was nominated for each position, including the president, out of 1,845,500 members. This violates the principle of democratic elections, which require a fair opportunity for multiple candidates to run and members to choose freely.
Members were instructed on who to vote for, constituting election interference. Such actions contravene 29 U.S.C. 481(e), which protects members’ rights to support candidates without interference or reprisal.
Improper Use of Union Resources:
Team April members, with salaries exceeding $1 million, used union funds to travel and hold pre-convention orientation meetings that were unnecessary. After these meetings in the same location, they campaigned and fundraised, giving them an unfair advantage. This action violates 29 U.S.C. 481(g), which prohibits the use of union dues to promote any candidate.
Violation of Nomination Procedures:
Rule 31 of the SEIU Constitution restricts nominations to the convention, limiting the opportunity for members to become bona fide candidates and distribute campaign literature. This rule conflicts with 29 U.S.C. 481(c) and (e), which ensure fair nomination and election processes.
Conclusion
The 2024 SEIU International Convention elections violated members’ rights as stipulated under the SEIU Constitution and federal law, specifically 29 U.S.C. 411(a)(1), 481(c), and 481(e). The lack of proper notification, unfair election practices, misuse of union funds, and restrictive nomination procedures undermine the democratic processes and equal rights of members.
Remedy Requested: A trusteeship should be established to restore democratic procedures in accordance with 29 U.S.C. 462. The election must be rerun with proper notification and fair opportunity for all members to nominate candidates and vote.
I hereby declare that the above statements are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.
Respectfully,
Avery T. Horton, Jr.
SEIU Local 503 Member