SEIU 721 President's Report

A Message From SEIU 721 President David Green

California Is Our Firewall. This November Is Our Chance.

SEIU 721 President David Green shaking hands with Xavier Becerra at the LA County Federation of Labor breakfast, Laborers Local 300

Sisters, brothers, and siblings,

On July 14, I welcomed Xavier Becerra — California's next Governor if we do our job — to a Los Angeles County Federation of Labor breakfast at Laborers Local 300. Looking around that room, at labor leaders and elected officials from every corner of our movement, I was reminded of exactly what we're up against and exactly what we can do about it.

Washington has walked away from working people. The Trump White House has gutted the NLRB. The Supreme Court keeps siding with corporations. Ultra-conservatives in Congress are lining up a national anti-union agenda. And this summer, the federal government froze hundreds of millions in Medicaid dollars that pay our home care and healthcare sisters and brothers.

Here is the truth: California is our firewall. And this November is our chance to build it.

A pro-worker Governor. A pro-worker Legislature. A pro-worker California congressional delegation. That is how we protect our contracts, our paychecks, and our members' futures no matter what comes out of Washington.

Xavier gets it. I know 721 gets it. Now let's go win it.

In unity,

Around Our Union

Where the Decisions Get Made

From working meetings with LA County leadership to honoring the people who lead the departments we serve — 721 members show up where the decisions get made.

Meeting With Edward Yen

SEIU 721 Bargaining Policy Committee with David Green and Edward Yen at Wilshire HQ boardroom — David Green with the SEIU 721 Bargaining Policy Committee and Edward Yen at Wilshire HQ.

This month I sat down with Edward Yen, Executive Officer of the LA County Board of Supervisors, and our Bargaining Policy Committee at our Wilshire HQ. Every County contract eventually runs through the Board — so it matters when the executive who runs its operations hears directly from the members who deliver the services. Our members had a seat at the table. That's what a strong union looks like.

Farewell, Brandon. Welcome, Lisa.

Retirement luncheon honoring DCFS Director Brandon T. Nichols in the SEIU 721 Boardroom — Retirement luncheon honoring DCFS Director Brandon T. Nichols, SEIU 721 Boardroom, July 24, 2026.

On July 24, we honored Brandon T. Nichols as he closes a 27-year LA County career — the last four leading DCFS. Anyone who has done that work knows the weight it carries. Brandon carried it. That same day we welcomed Lisa Mandel, who steps into DCFS leadership after 40+ years of County service. 721 is ready to work with you, Lisa, on behalf of the kids, families, and workers who count on DCFS.

Lead Story

The November Firewall

As Washington dismantles a century of labor protections, SEIU 721 is turning California's ballot — starting with the race for Governor — into the last wall standing between our members and a national anti-worker agenda.

Editorial collage: black-and-white portrait of Xavier Becerra beside a California bear-flag silhouette, over torn newsprint headlines about inflation and a billionaire administration, a downward red arrow slashing across, and the U.S. Capitol on the right in red

On the morning of July 14, the ballroom at Laborers Local 300 was standing room only. Labor leaders, elected officials, and rank-and-file members came to the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor breakfast to hear from Xavier Becerra, the candidate for Governor of California. Opening the program, SEIU Local 721 President David Green kept his message short and direct: “the stakes in this election could not be higher,” and “the labor movement has always been strongest when we stand united.”

He meant it literally. Because for the first time in nearly a century, California workers can no longer count on Washington to have their back.

Since taking office, the Trump administration has moved fast to dismantle worker protections held since the New Deal: firing NLRB chair Gwynne Wilcox, gutting the board's quorum, and issuing Executive Order 14821 stripping federal workers — including thousands of TSA officers — of collective bargaining rights. The U.S. Supreme Court's decision overturning Chevron deference has opened the door for federal appellate courts to knock down long-standing pro-worker doctrines one by one. And in July, the White House froze hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Medicaid payments to California, directly threatening the paychecks of home care and healthcare workers.

The message from Washington is unmistakable. California workers, you're on your own.

Except we're not — because California has a firewall, and it runs through the November ballot.

A Sacramento firewall.

Federal preemption fights are coming. We need a pro-labor supermajority in Sacramento to write worker protections into California statute that can survive them — and a Governor who will sign those bills, not veto them. That is the race Xavier Becerra is running, and it is the race SEIU 721's 100,000 public service workers cannot afford to sit out.

A congressional firewall.

California holds several of the most competitive U.S. House seats in the country. Flipping a handful of them decides whether a national “Right-to-Work” bill dies in committee — or lands on the President's desk. It also decides whether federal research, infrastructure, and Medicaid dollars keep flowing into California hospitals, county departments, and the homes where our members work.

A budget firewall.

When the White House uses Medicaid as a bargaining chip against California, the only backstop is Sacramento. Our members — in-home care, public hospitals, county mental health, the safety net — need a Governor and Legislature ready to use California's budget to shield workers from federal cuts.

The Becerra breakfast was one morning. November is the whole reason it happened. President Green put it plainly: “This is our firewall.” Now it's on us to build it.

Screen-print style illustration of SEIU 721 members marching outside Ventura County building carrying purple ULP STRIKE, SEIU 721 IN ACTION, and Protecting Our County's Safety Net signs. A woman in a yellow SEIU Local 721 shirt raises her fist at the center of the march. — The Difference a Union Makes Across every classification, region, and job title, SEIU 721 members keep coming back to the same short answer: **a union is the difference between being negotiated with and being talked at.**

Members In Their Own Words

SEIU 721 Members Talk About What a Union Means to Them

Ask ten SEIU 721 members what a union does for them and you'll get ten different answers — a family finally on solid financial ground, a five-step raise waiting on the portal, benefits that survive when Washington does not. Underneath every answer is the same thing: leverage.

The numbers back it up. A new Economic Policy Institute report, covered this month by The Guardian, found the union wage premium historically runs 15% to 20%. If U.S. union density tripled to mid-20th-century levels, the median American worker would see a 14.5% raise — roughly $7,700 a year, nearly $270,000 over a 35-year career. More than 50 million American workers say they would join a union tomorrow if they could.

Multiply that by 100,000 SEIU 721 members — the reason we spend every month helping workers organize new units in county departments, non-profits, and healthcare across three regions. Every card signed pulls the union-wage line further into the labor market, and pulls a little more of California's workforce up with it.

The federal government spent the summer trying to make unions weaker. Our members spent it proving why unions matter. Hear it in their own words — then find a coworker who isn't in yet and bring them in.

By the Numbers: The Union Premium

15–20%: Historic wage premium union workers earn over non-union counterparts
0.0%: Raise the median U.S. worker would see if union density tripled to mid-century levels
$0: What that 14.5% raise is worth per year — nearly $270,000 over a 35-year career
$1.2T: Total additional pay that would shift to U.S. workers each year at that density
0M: American workers who would join a union tomorrow if they could
0%: Where U.S. union density sits today, down from 30%+ in the 1950s
0%: Share of Americans who view unions favorably

Source: Economic Policy Institute, via The Guardian, July 2026.

COPE Endorsement

LACERA Townhall

On July 14, SEIU 721 members packed a Wilshire headquarters town hall to endorse civil engineer Nicole Mi for the LACERA Board of Investments and Board of Retirement. Voting opens August 3.

The people who protect our retirement should look like the people whose retirement they're protecting.

That's the case SEIU 721 members made at a Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA) endorsement town hall on July 14 at our Wilshire headquarters. After hearing directly from the candidate, members voted to endorse Nicole Mi as our representative on the LACERA Board of Investments and Board of Retirement.

Nicole is a licensed civil engineer with 12 years of service to Los Angeles County — one of us. She earned her Executive MBA from UCLA and her bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from UC Irvine. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the LACERA Board of Investments, Chair of the Joint Organizational Governance Committee, Vice Chair of the Joint Audit, Compliance, Risk and Ethics Committee, and Chair of the Credit and Risk Mitigation Committee.

She knows how our pensions are invested, how they're audited, and how they're protected. Now our job is to make sure her voice keeps that seat.

Vote for Nicole Mi. It takes two minutes. Look for the email — and then send this article to a coworker.

Member asking a question at the LACERA townhall

How to Vote — Voting Opens August 3

Check your work email inbox for a message from LACERA Election Admin with the subject line: "Vote Now LACERA General Member Elections."

Cast your ballot. Then tell a coworker.

Inland Region

Thousands Strong on Day One

On July 28, thousands of Riverside County SEIU 721 members opened contract negotiations by stickering up in solidarity — a show of force that told management: we're united, we're ready, and we're not backing down.

SEIU 721 Riverside County members stickered up on Day One of bargaining, gathered in solidarity at a worksite

Riverside County's contract fight is on.

On Tuesday, July 28, thousands of SEIU 721 members at worksites across Riverside County stickered up together to open the first day of bargaining. From clinics to county offices to social services, members proudly wore their union stickers to send one clear message to the county: we are united, we are energized, and we are ready to fight for the strong contract we deserve.

The show of force wasn't spontaneous. It came after months of organizing, worksite conversations, and bargaining surveys that put member priorities at the center of the union's opening proposals. When our bargaining committee walked into that first session, they came with a mandate — and thousands of Riverside County workers standing behind them.

There's a long road ahead. But Day One made one thing clear: this fight belongs to the members, and the members are ready.

Riverside County SEIU 721 members in a clinic hallway wearing union stickers

Riverside University Health System members outside the Emergency Services entrance

Three Riverside County workers stickered up together

Riverside County nursing team stickered up in solidarity

Purple-tinted photo band of Riverside University Health System members in sunglasses at a rally

Behavioral Health Workers Push Back on Policy 245

Cease and Desist at Riverside University Health System

While Riverside County was stickering up on July 28, another Riverside County battle was already playing out in Behavioral Health.

Riverside University Health System Behavioral Health unilaterally updated Policy No. 245 — clinical recordkeeping standards — to require staff hit an 80% direct-service productivity standard. Increasing that quota would make it harder for our members to deliver the reliable, high-quality care our communities depend on.

The county was set to begin enforcing the new policy on July 24. SEIU 721 acted immediately with a cease-and-desist letter — and the county agreed to pause enforcement pending a meet-and-confer with our members.

Now, members are circulating a petition to make sure the county permanently drops the productivity increase.

Sign the Petition seiu721.salsalabs.org/rivco_policy245_petition

Courts CRE

100 Strong at Stanley Mosk

Nearly 100 SEIU 721 members from four LA Superior Court locations packed the Stanley Mosk Panorama Café to kick off the next contract fight.

They came from Stanley Mosk. County Mall Phase II. Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center. Spring Street. Four courthouses. One union.

In July, close to 100 SEIU 721 members filled the 9th-floor Panorama Café at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse to launch our next Court contract campaign. The room was standing-room only — courtroom clerks, court reporters, court services staff, and interpreters trading updates and standing shoulder-to-shoulder for the fight ahead.

The message from the room was clear: our secure retirement, our job security, and every strong raise we've ever won weren't given to us. They had to be fought for — and they'll have to be fought for again.

Follow-up campaign update meetings hit courthouses across LA County through the summer. Bargaining is next.

When we fight — we win.

SEIU 721 Tri-Counties

New Board, New Fight in Oxnard

A newly elected Oxnard Chapter Board is sworn in — ready to help elect their bosses, defend Measure O, and take an active role in representation at City Hall.

Oxnard Chapter Board members standing outside a City Hall entrance: Aaren Lindberg, Sandy Diaz, Ren Studinarz, and Alex Anand — From left: Aaren Lindberg, Sandy Diaz, Ren Studinarz, Alex Anand.

Meet the new leadership of SEIU 721's City of Oxnard Chapter.

Members of Oxnard City workers recently swore in the newly elected Oxnard Chapter Board — a slate of seven rank-and-file leaders who will drive the chapter's work through one of the most consequential election cycles this coastal city has seen in years.

The Board is already looking outward. Members are organizing around upcoming council-area races, working to elect the candidates who will sit across the bargaining table from us — the same council members who will decide the future of Oxnard's contracts, staffing levels, and workplace policies.

The Board is also stepping up for one of the November ballot's most important fights for Oxnard: Measure O. The half-cent sales tax — first approved by 65% of Oxnard voters in 2008 — funds police and fire protection, 911 emergency response, senior programs, homelessness response, street repair, and other city services SEIU 721 members deliver every day. Measure O is set to expire in March 2029 unless voters renew it on November 3, 2026. If it fails, the city loses roughly $20 million a year — money that flows directly into the services our members provide to Oxnard residents.

Beyond the ballot, the Board will take an active role in day-to-day representation at the City of Oxnard — sitting in on management meetings, backing up stewards, and making sure member voices reach the top of City Hall.

A new board. A new election. A new fight.

The New Oxnard Chapter Board

Measure O: On the Nov. 3 Ballot

1/2¢: The half-cent sales tax first approved by Oxnard voters in 2008
65%: Share of Oxnard voters who approved Measure O originally
$20M: Annual revenue Measure O generates for City services
2029: Year Measure O expires unless renewed by voters this November
9.25%: Oxnard's current sales tax rate — unchanged if voters renew

Funds: Police and fire • 911 emergency response • street and alley maintenance • youth and senior programs • homelessness response • other city services.

A Decade of Organizing. One Historic Milestone.

Gig Workers

The California Gig Workers Union — organized with SEIU — has taken the first big step toward the largest Uber and Lyft driver union anywhere on the planet.

After more than a decade of on-the-ground organizing, the California Gig Workers Union (CGWU) officially filed for union recognition for Uber and Lyft drivers this July, submitting authorization cards to the state labor board.

The number of drivers who could be covered would make SEIU CGWU the largest union of Uber and Lyft drivers anywhere in the world.

The path here has been long. In 2025, drivers won AB 1340 — the game-changing California law that finally gave rideshare drivers the right to form a union and bargain collectively with Uber and Lyft. AB 1340 took effect January 1, 2026. By June 2, drivers had already cleared the 10% threshold PERB requires to move to the next phase.

But this isn't the finish line — it's the launch pad.

For years, gig drivers organizing with SEIU CGWU have made it clear what they want at the bargaining table:

Fair wages that reflect the work
Real benefits
Safer, better working conditions
An end to unfair deactivations

The next step is winning enough driver support to force Uber and Lyft to negotiate — and then landing a first contract.

Do you know an Uber or Lyft driver? Tell them about the campaign, and encourage them to sign their union card at cgwu.org.

How We Got Here

2015+A decade of on-the-ground driver organizing
2025California passes AB 1340 — the first law in the nation giving rideshare drivers the right to form a union
Jan. 1, 2026AB 1340 takes effect
May 12, 2026CGWU files initial petition with PERB — submits authorization cards from tens of thousands of drivers
June 2, 2026PERB confirms CGWU cleared the 10% threshold
July 2026CGWU formally files for union recognition — the largest rideshare union filing in the world

SEIU 721 HealthRIGHT 360 members in purple standing arm in arm outside a clinic in Oxnard — Clinics: Bargaining Purple at HealthRIGHT 360

Members at HealthRIGHT 360 are purpling up every week as our statewide bargaining campaign gears up for a contract that reflects the care they give.

Every Wednesday, members at HealthRIGHT 360 clinics across California put on their SEIU Local 721 purple and stand together for a photo — a small ritual, a big message: we are here, we are together, and we are bargaining for a contract that matches the value we bring to our communities.

Bargaining has begun in SEIU 721's statewide HealthRIGHT 360 campaign.

The stakes are real for the communities our HR360 members serve. HealthRIGHT 360 is California's largest provider of comprehensive substance use and mental health treatment, serving more than 45,000 patients each year across 50 programs in 10 California counties — including Prototypes' Oxnard Women's Center in Ventura County, Walden House Adult Outpatient Services in Los Angeles, and dozens more locations delivering primary care, dental care, behavioral health, transitional housing, and re-entry services.

The people who do that work — nurses, counselors, case managers, recovery specialists, front-desk staff — are the reason it works.

Now they're organizing for the contract that reflects it.

We are better together. And together, we win.

Save the Date

Mark Your Calendar

SEIU 721 Retirees Chapter members gathered at a health fair

Retirees: Retired & Healthy

Retirees Health Fair

The SEIU 721 Retirees Chapter is hosting its annual health fair — and every retiree is invited.

Mark your calendar. On Tuesday, August 11, SEIU 721's Retiree Chapter is throwing open the doors for our annual Retirees Health Fair at the union hall.

Come for the health screenings. Free on-site checks for blood pressure, glucose levels, and more — the kind of preventive care that keeps a good retirement a healthy one.

Stay for the community. Representatives from partner organizations will be on hand to talk through benefits and services available to 721 retirees.

Coffee, conversation, and old friends — bring a fellow retiree.

DateTuesday, August 11

Time9 A.M. – 12 Noon

LocationSEIU 721 Union Hall

IncludesFree health screenings • Benefits & services info • Community

Save the Date

Assembly & Family Fun Day

Bring the family. Saturday, September 12, 2026.

DateSaturday, September 12, 2026

LocationWhittier Narrows Park
751 S. Santa Anita Ave., South El Monte

Parking$10 (cash only)

RequirementsRSVP required for entry • Members only • Bring your own chair or blanket

Please noteNo dogs allowed • No alcohol

SEIU 721 leaders and endorsed candidates gathered with a Defend California Workers — VOTE! banner in front of the California bear flag

Our Union

California Is the Last Line of Defense

Sisters, brothers, and siblings,

Want proof that elections matter and every vote counts? California is the last line of defense for public workers and the services we deliver — and this November decides how strong that defense will be.

Washington is coming at us on five fronts.

A broken NLRB.

Trump hollowed out the board after firing chair Gwynne Wilcox. California tried to have our PERB step in; federal courts blocked it. A pro-labor supermajority in Sacramento can write protections built to last.

Federal courts on the rollback.

For 40 years, Chevron deference required judges to defer to federal agency experts on labor law. The Supreme Court threw it out, and appellate courts are already undoing pro-union doctrine ruling by ruling. Codify our protections into California statute.

Public-sector unions under attack.

Executive Order 14821 strips collective bargaining from federal workers, including TSA officers. The fix is a pro-worker Congress — and California holds the seats that decide it.

Medicaid as a weapon.

The White House froze hundreds of millions in federal Medicaid dollars to California this summer. Sacramento has to backstop.

The U.S. House up for grabs.

California holds some of the nation's most competitive House seats. Flipping them is labor's highest federal stake this November.

Every vote counts. Turn out every 721 member, every family, every neighbor. See you on the doors.

In unity,

Gilda Valdez
Chief of Staff, SEIU Local 721