California School Employees Association

The California School Employees Association is the largest classified school employees union in the United States, representing nearly 220,000 school support staff throughout California. CSEA members perform a wide range of essential work in our public schools and community colleges, including security, food services, office and clerical work, school maintenance and operations, transportation, academic assistance and paraeducator services, library and media assistance, computer services and more. CSEA was formed in 1927 when a determined group of Oakland custodians came together to support an elderly custodian who couldn’t afford to retire because public schools had no pension plan for such employees. This small group of custodians saw the need to gain rights and benefits for themselves and other school employees, and began the organization to achieve this goal. Through this initial determination, CSEA proved to be an organization that would stand the test of time. In 2001, CSEA members voted to become an independently chartered union of the AFL-CIO. Today, CSEA continues to thrive as a member-run union, democratically controlled by member volunteers in more than 750 local chapters throughout the state. The union is led by the CSEA Board of Directors. Labor Relations Representatives and other professional staff work under the authority of CSEA’s Executive Director.