David Rolf
| David Rolf | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Organization: | Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 775 |
| Role: | Founder and President |
| Location: | Seattle, Wash. |
| Education: | Bard College |
| Website: | Official website |
David Rolf is a labor union leader and activist. He is the founder and president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 775, a union representing home care and nursing home workers based in Seattle, Wash. Rolf also serves as an international vice president of the SEIU, the parent organization under which Local 775 operates. He received national media attention following his support for raising the minimum wage to $15.[1]
Career
David Rolf was born in 1969 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He studied at Bard College, where he began working with the local SEIU affiliate to organize campus janitors. After graduating, Rolf began working for SEIU in Atlanta, Ga., and has worked for SEIU ever since.[2]
In the late 1990's, Rolf led a campaign to unionize home care workers in Los Angeles, which was, according to The Seattle Times, the biggest union drive since 1941.[3] According to The American Prospect, no other American unionist in the past 15 years "has organized as many workers, or won them raises as substantial, as Rolf."[4]
Rolf serves on several committees within SEIU, including:[5]
- Chair of the SEIU Home Care Council
- Executive Committee
- Finance Committee
- Organizing Committee
- Health Care Board
Rolf garnered national media attention for supporting efforts to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour in the Washington cities of Seattle and SeaTac.[6] His March 2016 book, The Fight for Fifteen, describes his experience advocating for the Seattle minimum wage increase, and argues that the federal minimum wage should be increased to $15, as well.[7] He has written about the minimum wage and other labor reforms for publications like The Nation and Democracy.[8][9]
| "Rolf spoke at Occupy Seattle on October 10, 2011 and called for the protesters to support labor unions." |
SEIU Local 775
In 2002, Rolf founded SEIU Local 775, and serves as its president. Since its beginning, membership has grown from 1600 to 44,000 workers as of 2015.[5]
In 2009, Rolf founded the SEIU Healthcare Northwest Training Partnership. The partnership is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and provides employee benefits and training to SEIU members in Washington.[10] He was also the founder and chair of the SEIU 775 Health Benefits Trust, which serves Washington and Montana.[11][5]
In 2014, Rolf served as co-chair of the Minimum Wage Task Force under Seattle Mayor Ed Murray.[12]
See also
External links
- SEIU
- SEIU 775 Biography
- SEIU Healthcare NW Training Partnership
- David Rolf on Twitter
- SEIU 775 on Facebook
Footnotes
- ↑ Seattle Met , "One Question for SEIU President David Rolf," December 3, 2013
- ↑ Seattle Met, "David Rolf: Man in the Middle," February 1, 2014
- ↑ The Seattle Times, "David Rolf: The man who would make unions matter again," March 22, 2013
- ↑ The American Prospect, "The Seeds of a New Labor Movement," accessed October 14, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 SEIU 775, "David Rolf," accessed October 14, 2015
- ↑ Washington Post, "Raising the minimum wage without raising havoc," September 5, 2014
- ↑ The New Press, "The Fight for Fifteen: The Right Wage for a Working America," accessed October 14, 2015
- ↑ The Nation, "What if We Treated Labor Like a Startup?" June 18, 2014
- ↑ Democracy, "Shared Security, Shared Growth," Summer, 2015
- ↑ SEIU Healthcare NW Training Partnership and Health Benefits Trust, "About Us," accessed October 14, 2015
- ↑ SEIU 775, "About us," accessed October 14, 2015
- ↑ The Seattle Times, "Mayor Murray announces his $15 wage plan," May 1, 2014
