purple and gold graphic with text: SEIU 721 President's Report January 2025

Top Stories

FIGHTING FOR FAIRNESS:

SEIU 721’S LANDMARK STUDY EXPOSES LA COUNTY’S OVERUSE OF PRIVATE CONTRACTS

SPREADING JOY, HONORING LEGACY:

SEIU 721 LATINO CAUCUS’S ANNUAL TOY DRIVE BRIGHTENS HOLIDAYS IN PICO GARDENS

READY TO RISE AGAIN:

RIVERSIDE MEMBERS GEAR UP FOR A NEW BARGAINING CAMPAIGN, BUILDING ON HISTORIC VICTORIES

A Message from SEIU 721 President David Green

2025 is shaping up to be a historic year for our union. All of LA County and most Tri-Counties members will head to the bargaining table, making it a pivotal moment for SEIU 721.

LA County workers—representing more than half our total membership—are ready to do what it takes to secure a strong contract. We’ve already shown our power by packing the Hall of Administration on September 24 and overwhelmingly approving a ULP strike. Meanwhile, Ventura County workers are preparing for critical negotiations with regional implications. With over 10 contracts expiring next year, over 80% of SEIU 721 Tri-Counties members will be at the table in 2025.

Bargaining is vital because it allows workers to exercise collective power, negotiate for higher wages, better benefits, improved working conditions and job security. Collective bargaining is why union workers in America earn more, enjoy better healthcare, work in safer conditions, and retire with greater security compared to
non-union workers.

But SEIU 721 doesn’t stop at negotiating better pay and benefits. We also fight for the common good. Our members have won protections for vital health and social services and created job opportunities for thousands of residents in underserved communities through targeted local hiring programs.

Now, we’re tackling the epidemic of privatization of public services. Our union recently released a groundbreaking study exposing how LA County
is handing billions of dollars to private corporations to perform work that should be
done by our members.

It’s all on the table in 2025. SEIU 721 members have proven time and again that they can achieve the impossible. The stakes are high, but our unity and collective action are our secret weapons. When we fight, we win.

In solidarity,

SEIU 721 Shines a Light LA County’s Contracting Out

On December 3rd, a massive crowd of SEIU 721 members gathered on the steps of the Los Angeles General Medical Center in Boyle Heights to announce the results of a landmark study, “Shining a Light on Contracting Out in Los Angeles County,” exposing how LA County tax dollars are hard

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Union and LA County CSSD Leadership Hold Key Meeting

Recently, SEIU 721 President David Green met with Terrie Hardy–the Director of the LA County Child Support Services Department. Also representing SEIU 721 alongside President Green were Worksite Organizer Brayan Ochoa and CSSD Stewards Shahidah Carter, Victor Trammel and Leo Barrera. Members of Director Hardie’s Executive Council also attended. 


Take our union’s work schedule survey. Your input matters.

SEIU Local 721 wants to hear from Eligibility Workers and Supervisors at LA County DPSS Customer Service Centers. Is the 10 AM–7 PM schedule working for you? Are telework policies meeting your needs?

Share your feedback through our Work Schedule Survey . Surveys are due by Monday, January 13, 2025.
Don’t wait—your voice shapes our union’s actions.


SEIU 721 Retirees: Retired and Active, Making an Impact This December!

SEIU 721 retirees truly embody their motto of being “retired and active!” December has been an eventful and inspiring month for the Retiree Committee, packed with community-focused initiatives and festive celebrations. One of the highlights was the annual holiday party, a cherished tradition of the season. Held at the Sheraton

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LA City Members File Group Grievance for City’s Failure to Honor Our Contract

We sprang into action when the City of Los Angeles indicated that they would not include our retroactive payments for various increases on our November 27 paychecks. We made it clear that we would fight tooth and nail to hold management accountable and ensure that our members are made whole. 

That’s why, on December 16, our leaders across our bargaining units signed on to the department’s grievances filed against the City of Los Angeles for failing to honor our contract. Additionally, the Coalition of City Unions is also filing grievances. 

Make no mistake: We’re pursuing every avenue to ensure that the city respects the contract we agreed upon and ratified.

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SEIU 721 Latino Caucus Brings Joy to Pico Gardens With Toy Drive Success

At the start of this year, the SEIU 721 Latino Caucus set an ambitious goal: collecting 500 toys for children in the Pico Gardens community. This annual tradition began in 2022, when SEIU 721 Executive Board member Lawrence Reyes suggested partnering with the Dolores Mission Church during a planning meeting.

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USD NTT Faculty and Students Mobilize Against Threatened Course Cuts

At the University of San Diego (USD), students and faculty united in December to oppose potential course cancellations for the Spring 2025 semester. They gathered hundreds of petition signatures demanding no financial loss for instructors whose classes might be dropped. During recent bargaining sessions with non-tenure track (NTT) faculty in

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LMU NTT Faculty Begin Historic Union Contract Negotiations

Non-tenure track (NTT) faculty in three Loyola Marymount University (LMU) colleges started historic union contract negotiations on Dec. 20, 2024. The nearly 400 faculty members serve in the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts (BCLA), the College of Communication and Fine Arts (CFA), and the School of Film and Television (SFTV),

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City of Riverside Members Launch Bold Contract Campaign

City of Riverside members are gearing up to return to the bargaining table, determined to build on the success of their historic last contract. In 2022, Riverside members demonstrated their collective strength through impactful worksite actions, powerful city council advocacy, and even authorizing a strike. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, their unity and determination secured a strong agreement.

Now, with a new contract on the horizon, the momentum continues. Dozens of energized members recently gathered at the SEIU 721 Riverside office to kick off the next campaign. While every bargaining cycle presents unique challenges, Riverside’s battle-tested members are ready to rise to the occasion once again. 

Together, they’ll fight—and win! 


Inland Region Members Celebrate the Holidays


The annual Inland Region Holiday Celebration brought out dozens of members and their families to celebrate the season and our union spirit! Guests enjoyed food, drinks, karaoke, face painting and a bounce house. Santa came by to pose for photos and distribute gifts to the children. As holiday cheer filled the air, even a visit from the Grinch couldn’t stop our Inland Region members from enjoying a year of success and solidarity.


City of Santa Ana Elects Bargaining Team:


Clinica Romero Health Insurance Win


Clinica Romero members are celebrating a major healthcare win! After the insurer lowered health insurance premium rates, our union was able to negotiate a deal for the employer to cover those lower premiums for SEIU 721 members. That means our members at Clinica Romero will have their healthcare fully covered in 2025. This is another example of the union difference and what it means to be union strong.

SEIU 721 chief of staff gilda valdez

Our UNION

Fighting for Strong Contracts and Job Security: SEIU 721 Takes on Privatization

Bargaining strong contracts is our union’s core mission — and when SEIU 721 fights, we win.

But what good is a contract with higher wages, better benefits and pension improvements if you no longer have a job? That’s why we take a big-picture approach to bargaining. SEIU 721 bargaining teams aren’t just negotiating to improve members’ pay, benefits, and working conditions, they’re also laser-focused on protecting our job security. And currently the biggest threat to public workers’ jobs is privatization.

That’s why our union commissioned a new study, “Shining a Light on Contracting Out in Los Angeles County,” that exposes how every year LA County government hands over contracts worth billions to private corporations to deliver public services — often with little public review and lax oversight.

Contracting out — or “privatizing” — public services is getting a lot of attention in the media since President-elect Donald Trump appointed tech-billionaire Elon Musk’s to head a new “Department of Government Efficiency” tasked with slashing the federal workforce and turning over delivery of government services to for-profit corporations.

Privatization isn’t a new idea — particularly here in Southern California, where LA County currently pays private corporations more than $6.2 billion per year to provide everything from emergency medical care to mental health treatment to street repair.

SEIU 721’s contracting study reveals how, at a time when many union jobs in county government sit vacant, LA County government using tax money to hire private companies to perform work that can and should be done by public employees. Many don’t pay their workers a living wage or benefits and are allowed to operate without clear oversight or regular performance measurements.

Fed up with LA County’s privatization binge, SEIU 721 LA County members and community allies crowded onto the steps of the Los Angeles General Medical Center in Boyle Heights on December 3 to share the landmark contracting study with LA area media.

SEIU Vice President Simboa Wright summarized workers’ frustrations best: “Every time Los Angeles County contracts out a job, they are killing the middle class – one job at a time.”

 

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