The SEIU faced scrutiny for using union members’ dues to fund a lavish $1.2 million stay at a five-star hotel while lobbying against President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill unsuccessfully.
| PULSE POINTS |
❓ WHAT HAPPENED: The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) spent $1.2 million of union dues at a five-star luxury hotel in Washington, D.C. This was during a failed, week-long campaign in June last year against President Donald J. Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) Act. 📺 DETAIL: The SEIU, a trade union representing around two million workers across healthcare, property services, and public services, spent $1.2 million of union dues at the five-star Salamander Hotel in Washington, D.C. The expenses were disclosed as “support for political activities” by the Department of Labor. The expense was part of the SEIU’s organized protests against President Trump’s OBBB Act, which included tax cuts for small businesses and service workers. The Salamander Hotel, a well-known luxury hotel, hosted the SEIU despite the union owning a conference space in the D.C. area already. Critics have characterized the event as extravagant spending and a waste of union member dues. 💬 KEY QUOTE: “The SEIU lectures the country about economic justice by day and apparently checks into five-star luxury hotels by night on their members’ dimes.” – Charlyce Bozzello, Communications Director at the Center for Union Facts. 📺 FLASHBACK: President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” was signed into law in early July 2025, acting as a key part of his second-term agenda. In June 2025, it was revealed SEIU Local 87, hired a sex offender for a leadership role after she served jail time for child sexual abuse. The union has been linked to pro-illegal immigrant protests in California, where the union is also sponsoring a tax on billionaires that is sowing division among Democrats. The proposal has reportedly garnered enough signatures to be put on the state ballot in November. |
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