APALA

Luisa Blue is currently the Chief of Staff at SEIU 521.  As the current president of APALA, Luisa also held the same position from 2001 to 2005 and continues to be a leader in the organization, serving as a Special Representative to the Change to Win Federation.

Prior to becoming the Organizing Coordinator of SEIU, she was the first President of SEIU Local 121 RN in Southern California.  Blue was also the Organizing Director for SEIU Local 790, a large public sector union in Northern California.  At SEIU Local 790, Blue organized over 10,000 workers in five years.  She was responsible for the successful organizing campaign of airport screeners – predominantly Asian immigrants – at the San Francisco airport.

She began her trade union work in 1977 when she was a member of SEIU Local 400 in San Francisco.  She was a registered nurse at San Francisco General Hospital and started her union activity as a shop steward for the Registered Nurse Chapter.

In 1982, Blue was elected President of SEIU Local 400 and later the President of SEIU Local 790 in San Francisco when Local 400 and local 390 merged into one Bay area SEIU Local.  She is a founding member of SEIU’s Health Division Board and an active member of the SEIU Nurse Alliance.

Sister Blue began organizing as a member organizer working on healthcare campaigns for SEIU.  In 1990, she joined the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute staff when they opened their West Coast office.  In 1992, she joined the SEIU International organizing department first as a lead organizer for healthcare campaigns and later as the SEIU Pacific Northwest Organizing Coordinator.

In August 2001, Blue became the first woman and the first Filipina to be elected National President for APALA and was re-elected in 2003.  Blue played an instrumental role in developing APALA’s joint organizing program with the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute.

Before her trade union involvement, Blue was active in the Filipino American community in San Francisco, working on immigrant rights and discrimination issues.  She is a board member of the Asian Immigrant Women Advocates and the Center for Third World Organizing.