Press Releases

Today, Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) sent a letter to the president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 87, Olga Miranda, demanding information on its hiring practices after reports that the chapter employed convicted child molester Noelia Linares. SEIU’s website highlights that it is the second largest union of public service employees with more than 1 million local and state government workers, public school employees, bus drivers, and child care providers.

This letter comes after the SEIU national office failed to provide an adequate response to a June letter demanding answers regarding both local and national procedures and policies for the union’s hiring of registered sex offenders. Instead, SEIU’s response left it to SEIU locals to defend their own actions. 

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: “While SEIU provided a response to the Committee related to the national union’s practices, it did not provide any of the information the Committee requested about SEIU’s locals. Therefore, the Committee is expanding its investigation to locals that have demonstrated a lapse in judgment by hiring a registered sex offender. Because Local 87 hired Ms. Linares and continues to list her as an officer on its website, the Committee seeks information from your organization.”

The letter asks SEIU Local 87 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 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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