April Verrett (Keynote)

SEIU President April Verrett is a fighter for working people and a visionary leader at the forefront of building a modern-day labor movement that is anti-racist at its core.

Having dedicated most of her career to helping workers build power through their unions, Verrett is driven by the conviction that unions give workers a platform to fight for more than wages, benefits and working conditions. Unions for all can help eradicate generational poverty, dismantle structural racism, strengthen our democracy and generally improve workers’ lives and communities.

Originally from the South Side of Chicago, Verrett was raised by her grandmother, a Union Steward for SEIU Local 46, who taught her the values of perseverance, collective action, and community.

Verrett served as Secretary-Treasurer of SEIU for two years, leading the union’s strategic planning process to develop its plan for the future. As President of SEIU Local 2015, California’s largest local union, and the nation’s largest long-term care union, she fought on behalf of more than 400,000 long-term care providers working in both nursing homes and private homes throughout California. She has also served as Executive Vice President of SEIU Healthcare Illinois and Indiana (HCII), where she played an instrumental role in holding corporations accountable and advocating for them to pay their fair share in taxes. At SEIU Verrett has also chaired the union’s National Home Care Council, co-chaired the National Organizing Committee, and served as a member of the Finance Committee.

Verrett brings ambitious vision, courageous leadership and a life experience that fuels her unshakeable belief in the power to make change when we come together across race. She has a firm belief that our power comes from our diversity.