California’s SEIU Local 1000 starts a new chapter after tumultuous leadership changes

After several years of tumultuous leadership changes, the state’s largest public-sector union is ready for a “fresh, hard restart,” said Anica Walls.

The recently elected president of the Service Employees International Union Local 1000 union, which represents nearly 100,000 state workers, told The Sacramento Bee she’s focusing on growing membership, holding the state accountable for its “bad bosses” and gearing up for a contract fight in 2026.

Walls is the first president to take over Local 1000’s reins since the union ousted its top elected official in January 2023 following an investigation into the former president’s behavior in office. Shortly after Richard Louis Brown was elected president in May 2021 in an extremely low-turnout election, issues began cropping up.

Those issues ultimately led to charges against Brown, some of which Walls filed herself — that he failed to hold board meetings and exhibited threatening and targeting behavior toward board members.

An independent investigation found sufficient evidence that Brown improperly suspended three of Local 1000’s vice presidents, illegally occupied the Local 1000 headquarters and stole union records. Brown was kicked out of office, less than two years after he took control.

Board of Directors Chairman Bill Hall served as the union’s leader in the interim as the organization underwent changes to its governance structure that provided more checks and balances. In July, the union officially announced a new slate of Local 1000 officers, which included Walls, David Jimenez as vice president and secretary-treasurer, and DeLonne Johnson as board chair.

Walls pointed to the addition of regional officers as one example of the improved governance structure. The union also adopted ranked-choice voting and a new executive director position in the last year.

Last month, the union announced the bargaining teams elected by each of the nine units represented by Local 1000. Now that elections have concluded, Walls said, “we can move forward with official business.”

Walls has nearly two decades of civil service under her belt. She was initially attracted to working for the state, like many of her peers, because of the stability and benefits.

“I had just found out that I was going to be a new mother,” Walls said. “So for me, the decision was health insurance.”

After joining the Department of Social Services as a disability evaluation analyst in 2006, Walls said, the poor treatment of her co-workers inspired her to become more involved in the union. She cites her parents’ political involvement and her mother’s sister, who was an “organizer at heart,” as additional motivators for her union involvement.

In Local 1000’s next chapter, Walls said, she’s focused on fighting for concrete wins that members care about: salary increases, better benefits, and ensuring that members are treated with dignity and respect on the job.

“We are going to be paying attention to where and how the state will choose to move bad bosses,” Walls said. “We want to make sure that happens less and less, because those are things that make the lives of employees tougher.”