In what seems to be the start of a major scandal, the House Education and Workforce Committee, which is led by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), has launched an investigation into Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 87 in San Francisco for hiring Noelia Linares, a convicted child molester, as a business agent.
For context, Linares was charged with several sordid sexual crimes against children and pleaded no contest in 2018. The committee is investigating SEIU’s hiring practices, given its representation of workers serving vulnerable people. The SEIU is especially controversial due to its ongoing support of Democrats and progressive policies.
In any case, reacting to the shocking information, Walberg noted, “Given the vulnerable populations many SEIU workers serve, the Committee seeks to understand how this occurred and whether reforms to the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) are necessary.”
Slamming the union, the Michigan Republican added, “[SEIU] Local 87’s decision to hire Ms. Linares in 2022 to serve as a business agent should be a matter of deep concern to the millions of workers that SEIU represents.”
Still not done, he stated, “As such, the Committee is investigating this matter to better determine whether the LMRDA should be amended to include registered sex offenders among those prohibited from holding office in a labor union.” Building on this point, he concluded, “The hiring practices of unions and their leadership are important to the Committee as such hiring relates to the integrity of a union and sets an example for their dues-paying members.”
In any case, a letter sent from the House committee to the union at the center of this scandal offers a disturbing view into the matter. The letter explained, “On June 11, the Daily Caller News Foundation published an article about SEIU Local 87’s (Local 87) hiring of Ms. Noelia Linares to be a business agent. According to the article, Ms. Linares pleaded “no contest” in 2018 to sex crimes involving a minor following her 2017 arrestat South San Francisco High School, where she was a teaching assistant for bilingual students.”
Offering more detail, the letter explained that, “Authorities charged her with unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, showing pornography to a minor, and several other crimes related to her interactions with four alleged victims at the school.”
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Further exposing the potential negligence of the union, the letter stated, “Ms. Linares is now on California’s sex offender registry with a crime description of sex penetration with a foreign object of a victim under 18 years of age. Further, by the time of Ms. Linares’ hiring by Local 87, her crimes had been covered by press outlets, thereby providing Local 87 with notice that it was hiring a sex offender to be a business agent.”
Explaining the significance of this security breach, congressional Republicans noted that, “SEIU touts itself as, “the second largest union of public service employees’ with more than 1 million local and state government workers, public school employees, bus drivers, and child care providers—including 80,000 early learning and child care professionals.”
Concluding their strongly worded letter, the House Education and Workforce Committee explained the scope of the investigation, writing, “Indeed, the LMRDA already prohibits individuals convicted of certain crimes, including rape and severe forms of assault, from holding office in labor unions. As such, the Committee is investigating this matter to better determine whether the LMRDA should be amended to include registered sex offenders among those prohibited from holding office in a labor union.”