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David Green, president of Service Employees International Union Local 721, called the move “irresponsible” and “retaliatory” — and said it would hit a city already reeling from a $1 billion budget shortfall.

“On Tuesday, August 12, 2025, for 24 hours we are reclaiming our power to stop the Trump terror. For 24 hours, we are going to boycott companies. We are going to rally, and we are going to support local businesses and street vendors that support our people,” Felipe Caceres, a member of Service Employees International Union Local 721, said.

The employee status of student workers—such as graduate teaching assistants, undergraduate resident assistants, and other campus workers—will be determined by the NLRB, the agency that decides how the National Labor Relations Act is applied to protect employees and oversees petitions for union recognition.

While facing resistance from LACPD administration, Joseph Lopez found strong allies in the system’s labor unions. Organizations like SEIU Local 721, AFSCME Local 685 recognized the value of WestCal® programming and supported expanding it throughout the juvenile halls and camps.

Members of the SEIU 721, representing 4,000 social workers, were asking for the county to reduce caseloads to approximately 15 cases per social worker in order to process cases more quickly and protect families and children. Many of them were social workers handling cases that involved transferring children from foster care into permanent housing. These adoption social workers can be assigned up to 55 cases per worker, according to David Green, SEIU Local 721 union president.

While the United Farmworkers have not backed the farmworkers strike, SEIU California has backed a strike of immigrant workers on August 12th. “We need to send a strong message that this country runs on immigrants,” said SEIU 721 Organizing Director Martin Manteca at an event this week announcing support for the strike.

The advocacy groups, including labor unions SEIU 721 and United Teachers Los Angeles, urged all community members to keep protesting as part of the “Summer of Resistance.”

The event was organized by 50501 SoCal in partnership with SEIU Local 721, CARECEN, NDLON, and the Community Power Collective as part of the broader Summer of Resistance coalition.

“El mensaje que queremos dar al presidente Trump es rotundo: Dejen de secuestrar a nuestra gente, saquen al ICE de Los Ángeles y dejen de ocupar militares en nuestra ciudad”, clamó Martín Manteca, director de organización externa del local 721 del Sindicato Internacional de Trabajadores de los Servicios (SEIU), uno de los organizadores de la Carrera contra el ICE.

Speakers throughout the event included Fayia Ramage, founder of Run Against ICE; Martin Manteca, external organizing director for SEIU Local 721; and Julita Galwa, founder of Run Club Girls.