Issued February 03, 2022
“I was thrilled to learn that the White House has named former SEIU Executive Vice President Luisa Blue to the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders. Luisa joined the labor movement in 1977 as a critical care nurse at the San Francisco General Hospital, helping to win better collective bargaining rights for county nurses. Four decades on, she remains a tireless advocate for economic and social justice and health equity for all workers regardless of what they look like, where they’re from or what they do for a living.
A proud Filipina, Luisa was the first Asian Pacific Islander (API) officer of the international union, serving four years on its executive board before becoming Executive Vice President in 2016 and retiring in 2020. Beyond SEIU, she helped found the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), serving two terms as its president.
It’s hard to overstate Luisa’s impact as a worker-leader. During the height of the AIDS crisis, she helped win national legislation on blood borne pathogens and safe needle handling, protecting patients and healthcare workers. As a founding member of the SEIU Nurse Alliance in the 1990s, she led the fight to make California the first state to enact safe nurse-to-patient ratios.
SEIU’s 2 million members congratulate Luisa Blue on her appointment and know that she will continue to be a powerful champion for frontline workers and immigrants in her new role. We look forward to working with her and the commission to ensure that API workers and their families are never targeted by hateful, xenophobic acts and have an opportunity to thrive with good jobs, strong unions, access to care, a pathway to citizenship, fresh air and clean water, and a fair and equal justice system.”