The Legal Lens Podcast

SEIU President April Verrett on Women in Labor and Building Power for Working People

Episode Summary

In this episode of The Legal Lens, Angela Reddock‑Wright talks with April Verrett, President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)—one of North America’s largest unions representing more than 2 million workers—about her journey from growing up poor on the South Side of Chicago to leading a national labor movement. April shares how being raised by a grandmother who sometimes had to “rob Peter to pay Paul,” then calling Los Angeles and now Northeast D.C. home, grounded her commitment to workers who go to work every day and still struggle to make ends meet. As the first African American person to lead SEIU, she explains why she sees her life’s work as building organizations that build power for working people—especially women, people of color, and immigrants who are the backbone of the economy but too often shut out of the prosperity they create. April and Angela dig into why the labor movement should matter to everyone, what SEIU is fighting for now, and how a just society requires that all work and all workers are treated with dignity.

Episode Notes

In this episode of The Legal Lens, Angela Reddock‑Wright talks with April Verrett, President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)—one of North America’s largest unions representing more than 2 million workers—about her journey from growing up poor on the South Side of Chicago to leading a national labor movement. April shares how being raised by a grandmother who sometimes had to “rob Peter to pay Paul,” then calling Los Angeles and now Northeast D.C. home, grounded her commitment to workers who go to work every day and still struggle to make ends meet. As the first African American person to lead SEIU, she explains why she sees her life’s work as building organizations that build power for working people—especially women, people of color, and immigrants who are the backbone of the economy but too often shut out of the prosperity they create. April and Angela dig into why the labor movement should matter to everyone, what SEIU is fighting for now, and how a just society requires that all work and all workers are treated with dignity.

Key Topics Covered

• April Verrett’s roots on the South Side of Chicago, her years in Los Angeles, and how living in working‑class communities shapes her view of power and justice.
• ​Growing up poor in a household where her grandmother who raised her had to “rob Peter to pay Paul,” and how that experience mirrors what many workers still face today.
• ​What SEIU is: one of the largest labor unions in North America, representing more than 2 million workers across sectors like healthcare and service work.
• ​April’s historic role as the first African American leader of SEIU and what it means during Women’s History Month and beyond.
• ​Her vision of the labor movement as a vehicle to end poverty‑wage work, build worker power, and create a society where all work is valued and respected regardless of background or race.
• ​Why the labor movement should matter to everyone, no matter their profession or zip code.