April Verrett, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer

April Verrett, Secretary-Treasurer of the two million-member Service Employees International Union, 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 President of SEIU Local 2015, California’s largest local union, and the nation’s largest long-term care union, where she fought on behalf of more than 400,000 long-term care providers working in both nursing homes and private homes throughout California. Previously she 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 has been tapped twice by Governor Newsom, first in 2019 to serve on the Alzheimer’s Prevention and Preparedness Task Force, and again in 2020 for his Taskforce on Business and Jobs Recovery. She helped start United Working Families (UWF), an organization that connects grassroots organizations to build political power and hold elected officials accountable. She is also a member of the Committee for Greater L.A., a coalition of diverse leaders who came together to understand the impact of COVID-19 on different populations, and an advisory board member of Advancement Project California, a leading racial justice organization that utilizes research and data to expand and shift public investments toward programs that benefit all Californians.

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.