Pictured: Sen. Ricardo Lara, Asm. Mariko Yamada, Asm. Roger Hernandez, Eliseo Medina, Speaker John A. Pérez, Sen. Kevin De Leon
Eliseo Medina currently serves as the International Secretary-Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Considered one of the most successful labor organizers in the country, Medina also leads the union's efforts to achieve comprehensive immigration reform that rebuilds the nation's economy, secures equal labor and civil rights protections for workers to improve their wages and work conditions and provides legal channels for a path to citizenship. Medina's career as a labor activist began in 1965 when, as a 19-year-old grape-picker, he participated in the historic United Farm Workers' strike in Delano, California. Over the next 13 years, Medina worked alongside labor leader and civil rights activist, Cesar Chavez and honed his skills as a union organizer and political strategist, eventually rising through the ranks to serve as the United Farm Workers' national vice president. His interests in strategic organizing brought him to SEIU in 1986, where he was elected to serve as international executive vice president and where he made history by becoming the first Mexican American elected to a top post at the 2.1 million-member union. His work has helped make SEIU the fastest-growing union on the West Coast and the largest union in California.