Civil Rights

We lead by action, not mere words. We never stay on the sidelines

Our members have always been at the forefront of advocacy. Like our leaders, they have been invited to the halls of Congress, marched on Washington, and never shied away from speaking the truth.

Today, Clayola Brown, one of our Vice Presidents who is also our Director of Civil Rights leads our partner organization, the A. Philip Randolph Institute, and is the Civil, Human, and Women's Rights Director for the AFL-CIO.

The A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI) is an organization of Black Trade Unionists who fight for racial equality and economic justice.

To A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, APRl's co-founders, the fight for workers' rights and civil rights were inseparable. Randolph (1889-1979) was the greatest black labor leader in American history and the father of the modern American civil rights movement. Rustin (1912-1987), a leading civil rights and labor activist and strategist, was the chief organizer of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Randolph and Rustin founded the A. Philip Randolph Institute in 1965 to continue the struggle for social, political, and economic justice for all working Americans.

Today, APRI has over 100 chapters all across the United States. Visit them at www.APRI.org.

Our fight extends beyond workplace issues. 

It is in our DNA to fight for social and economic justice, to ensure all people, regardless of race, religion, gender identity, sexual identity, and immigration status are treated with repect and dignity.

We believe in educating to empower, and leaving a legacy that we are proud of for generations to come. 

Our Statement on Black Lives Matter
Our Statement on Asian Hate

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Workers United – SEIU strongly condemns the murder of Shahidul Islam, an organizer who was killed for standing up for the rights of garment workers in Bangladesh.

Workers United – SEIU joins the global labor movement in strongly condemning the murder of Shahidul Islam, an organizer who was killed for standing up for the rights of garment workers in Bangladesh. Shahidul was a senior organizer with the Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF) and President of BGIWF’s Gazipur district committee. Shahidul was beaten to death in retaliation for supporting workers at the Prince Jacquard Sweater Ltd. factory, where BGIWF had been organizing for the last few months. Workers United – SEIU expresses its deepest sympathies to the family of Shahidul Islam and to our sisters and brothers at BGIWF. We stand in solidarity with these courageous leaders fighting for respect and dignity at work.

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