Press Releases

Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) is investigating the Service Employees International Union’s (SEIU) hiring practices after a report surfaced that it hired Ms. Noelia Linares, a known child molester, to be a business agent. It is reported that Ms. Linares pleaded “no contest” in 2018 to sex crimes involving a minor following her 2017 arrest at South San Francisco High School, where she was a teaching assistant. 
 
The article states, “Authorities charged her with unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, showing pornography to a minor and several other crimes related to her interactions with four alleged victims at the school.” 
 
In the letter, Chairman Walberg writes: “The [Committee] is investigating the hiring practices of the [SEIU] and those of its locals as they pertain to the hiring of registered sex offenders. The Committee has recently learned that an SEIU local hired a registered sex offender to serve as its business agent. Given the vulnerable populations many SEIU workers serve, the Committee seeks to understand how this occurred and whether reforms to the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) are necessary.”
 
The letter continues: “Ms. Linares is now on California’s sex offender registry with a crime description of sex penetration with foreign object of a victim under 18 years of age. Further, by the time of Ms. Linares’ hiring by Local 87, her crimes had been covered by press outlets, thereby providing Local 87 with notice that it was hiring a sex offender to be a business agent. Local 87’s decision to hire Ms. Linares in 2022 to serve as a business agent should be a matter of deep concern to the millions of workers that SEIU represents. SEIU has a membership of approximately 2 million, with many working directly with vulnerable populations.”
 
The letter asks SEIU to provide answers regarding its hiring practices of registered sex offenders and concludes: “The hiring practices of unions and their leadership are important to the Committee as such hiring relates to the integrity of a union and sets an example for their dues paying members. Indeed, the LMRDA already prohibits individuals convicted of certain crimes, including rape and serious forms of assault, from holding office in labor unions. As such, the Committee is investigating this matter to better determine whether the LMRDA should be amended to include registered sex offenders among those prohibited from holding office in a labor union.”
 
To read the full letter, click here.

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