A Service Employees International Union (SEIU) chapter in California fired a convicted child molester employed as a business agent after Congress asked how she got the job, the House Education and Workforce Committee told the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF).
SEIU’s Local 87 chapter in San Francisco told the committee on Oct. 20 that it had terminated Noelia Linares, who pleaded “no contest” to child molesting and sexual penetration by foreign object in 2018, according to a committee spokesperson. Republican committee chair Tim Walberg of Michigan previously sent letters to SEIU and Local 87 asking why the union hired a sex offender — despite serving “vulnerable populations” and child care providers — after the DCNF exclusively reported Linares’ record in June.
“It’s downright pathetic that these bloated unions need an act of Congress just to boot a child molester,” Tom Jones, president of the conservative American Accountability Foundation (AAF), told the DCNF. The group first obtained information on Linares’ convictions from a public records request.
The DCNF attempted to reach Linares via her SEIU Local 87 email address and did not receive a response. The DCNF could not find contact information for Linares outside of the union, which removed her from its website. SEIU Local 87 President Olga Miranda also did not respond to a request for comment.
“How did SEIU hire Linares in the first place, with her rap sheet screaming red flags? Unions like this are morally bankrupt, spineless hypocrites hiding, and everyone knows it,” Jones said.
Police arrested Linares in 2017 at South San Francisco High School, where she worked as a teaching assistant, on charges of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, showing pornography to a minor and other crimes related to four alleged victims, local media reported at the time. Her charges were downgraded as part of a plea deal, and she served one year and jail and nearly three years of probation, court records show.
Linares began at SEIU Local 87 in 2022 and her gross salary increased each year since, with $66,672 in earnings in 2024, the DCNF previously reported.
“SEIU represents more than a million workers—many of whom work directly with children in fields like child care or public education,” Walberg told the DCNF. “SEIU Local 87 had no business hiring Linares, a convicted sex offender and child molester, to an officer position within the union’s local chapter.”
“I am glad she was removed from this post,” Walberg said. “Surely no sane, dues-paying union member would want a criminal and sex offender representing the interests of workers.”
Walberg noted in his September letter to SEIU Local 87 that federal law prohibits labor unions from hiring people convicted of some violent crimes, including rape. “As such, the Committee is investigating this matter to better determine whether [the law] should be amended to include registered sex offenders among those prohibited from holding office in a labor union,” the lawmaker wrote.
The Trump administration charged another California SEIU chapter’s leader, David Huerta, with obstructing a federal officer for allegedly trying to block a government van with a crowd of protesters during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid in June, court documents show.
Huerta’s arrest sparked a wave of violent anti-ICE riots across Los Angeles after activist groups and SEIU chapters posted an SEIU graphic on social media urging people to come to a federal building to continue protesting law enforcement. Crowds then began throwing objects at police, vandalizing federal property and blocking parts of the road outside the facility. The ensuing riots led to more arrests and property destruction for several days while SEIU continually encouraged more protesting.
SEIU has spent millions supporting Democratic candidates since former President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and assisted with voter outreach for Democrats in the 2024 elections, according to multiple reports.
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