Josie Mooney is a labor union activist closely associated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Mooney was executive director of SEIU Local 790 from 1997 until 2006, when she left to work for national SEIU president Andy Stern. ^{1 2}

In 2008, union activists accused Mooney of leading a Stern-backed “skunk team” devoted to running a negative campaign against a local union organizer, Sal Rosselli, who opposed Stern’s mergers of local SEIU chapters. ³ Mooney has also worked with left-wing groups including Democracy Partners, People’s Action, and NextGen America. ⁴

Labor Union Career

Mooney has worked for labor unions for over 30 years. ⁵ In 1997, Mooney became executive director of SEIU Local 790 which was later merged with other SEIU chapters and became SEIU Local 1021. ⁶ Mooney served as the chapter’s president until 2006 when she left to work for SEIU president Andy Stern. ⁷

In 2013, Mooney was a negotiator for SEIU Local 1021 which represented Bay Area Rapid Transit workers that were on strike. ⁸ As part of her work with the SEIU, Mooney has worked on the union’s behalf in Europe, China, Thailand, and Myanmar. ⁹ Mooney has also served on the executive boards of both SEIU California State Council and the SEIU. ¹⁰

From 2011 to 2013, Mooney served as advisor to the president of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) on China. ¹¹ Other labor groups Mooney has worked for are United Educators of San Francisco, California School Employees Association, and San Francisco Labor Council, the local AFL-CIO affiliate. ¹²

United Health Care Workers West Leadership Controversy

In 2008, then-SEIU United Health Care Workers West leader Sal Rosselli and SEIU president Andy Stern became embroiled in a intra-union feud. ¹³ Stern pushed through mergers of local chapters, which Rosselli and other local union leaders felt made the union a more top-down organization for which Stern called the shots. ¹⁴ At the time, Mooney was a special assistant to Stern. ¹⁵

To undermine Rosselli’s campaign to send delegates to the SEIU national convention, Mooney helped form a “skunk team” to run a negative campaign against Rosselli. Mooney reportedly pressured SEIU Local 1021 employee Thomas Dewar to join the “skunk team” and told him that higher-ups would reward his loyalty to Stern. ¹⁶ Soon after joining the team, Dewar learned that the team was using an anti-union employer’s opposition research file to find dirt on Rosselli and public relations consultants from a major San Francisco firm to form a communications strategy to hurt Rosselli’s popularity with union members. Mooney also attempted to help pro-Stern delegates win local union elections, which was a potential violation of a union rule forbidding the union’s employees from campaigning during the “performance of their duties.” ¹⁷

Democracy Partners

Since 2011, Mooney has been a partner at Democracy Partners (DP), a political consulting firm that caters to left-of-center clients. ¹⁸ DP counts major labor unions among its clients including the AFL-CIO, American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), SEIU, UFCW, and United Steelworkers (USW). ¹⁹ Democratic party organizations including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), Democratic Governors Association (DGA), Democratic National Committee (DNC), and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) are also DP clients. ²⁰

People’s Action

Mooney is the director of organizing for People’s Action, the political arm for the left-wing group People’s Action Institute. ²¹ Member organizations of People’s Action include Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), Progressive Maryland, and OneAmerica Votes, a project of the One America Foundation. ²² Mooney made a statement on behalf of People’s Action opposing the Supreme Court ruling in Janus v. AFSCME which prohibited government employee unions from forcing non-members to pay union fees. ²³ People’s Action advocates for more environmental regulations and government-run health care. ²⁴

NextGen America

Mooney joined liberal environmentalist mega-donor Tom Steyer’s NextGen America in 2012 and is its vice president of labor and strategic partnerships. ²⁵ Liberal billionaire Tom Steyer is the founder of NextGen America and uses the organization and a larger political-advocacy network to advance his environmentalist agenda. The group has worked with groups such as SEIU International, AFSCME, Planned Parenthood, and Color of Change PAC to help elect Democrats. In 2014, the progressive magazine The Atlantic highlighted Mooney’s involvement with NextGen along with other left-wing operatives including Chris Lehane, Paul Tewes, and Ben Wessel. ²⁶

1. Brazil, Eric. “Local union power takes big step up.” SFGate. September 18, 1997. https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Local-union-power-takes-big-step-up-3100311.php.
2. Jones, Steven T. “Speaking It.” 48 Hills. October 17, 2006. https://sfbgarchive.48hills.org/sfbgarchive/2006/10/18/speaking-it/.
3. Powell, J.B. “A less perfect union.” 48 Hills. April 8, 2008. https://sfbgarchive.48hills.org/sfbgarchive/2008/04/08/less-perfect-union/.
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8. “Strike grinds on in San Francisco Bay Area BART transit talks.” CBS News. July 3, 2013. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/strike-grinds-on-in-san-francisco-bay-area-bart-transit-talks/.
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14. Powell, J.B. “A less perfect union.” 48 Hills. April 8, 2008. https://sfbgarchive.48hills.org/sfbgarchive/2008/04/08/less-perfect-union/.
15. Dewar, Thomas. “Hearing on Whether A Trustee Should Be Appointed at SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West Under Article VIII, Section 7 of the SEIU Constitution.” November 20, 2008. https://www.scribd.com/document/47374201/Dewar-DeclarationOnSkunkTeam11-20-08-1.
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22. “Member Organizations.” People’s Action. Accessed December 28, 2020. https://peoplesaction.org/member-organizations/.
23. Mooney, Josie. “PEOPLE’S ACTION STATEMENT ON SHAMEFUL JANUS V. AFSCME DECISION.” People’s Action. June 27, 2018. https://peoplesaction.org/2018/06/peoples-action-statement-on-shameful-janus-v-afscme-decision/.
24. “Our Campaigns.” People’s Action. Accessed December 28, 2020. https://peoplesaction.org/campaigns/.
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26. [1] Foran, Clare and Ben Geman. “Inside a Green Billionaire’s Brain Trust.” The Atlantic. June 10, 2014. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/06/inside-a-green-billionaires-brain-trust/443961/.