Who We Are

We are Service Employees International Union, Local 99—Education Workers United

began in the mid-1940s, when two Los Angeles Unified School District custodians Marvin Quinn and Carl Magnusen began meeting in Marvin’s backyard over hot dogs and lemonade to organize public school workers. Despite Los Angeles’ reputation as being strongly anti-labor, what is today known as the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 99 was founded on January 19, 1949. Los Angeles Unified School District LAUSD custodians and gardeners became the first workers to form their union with Local 99.

Today, we are the largest education workers Union in Southern California. We represent nearly 50,000 public and private-sector education workers throughout Los Angeles, Ventura, and San Bernardino Counties. With one of the most diverse workforces in the nation, education workers not only live near their school sites, they are members of the community, often having children in the very schools they work at.

We represent teachers’ assistants, playground workers, special education assistants, bus drivers, gardeners, custodians, cafeteria workers, maintenance workers, early care and education workers, and others working in schools, colleges, family child care centers, and administrative offices.