Milly Silva

Milly Silva serves as Secretary-Treasurer of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the nation’s largest healthcare union. A Bronx native, her work in the labor movement began when she became a long-term care organizer for 1199—unionizing thousands of home healthcare workers throughout New York City. Tapped by the union leadership to build power for healthcare workers across the Hudson, she then relocated to New Jersey, where she helped win groundbreaking contracts that include living wages, high-quality health insurance for workers and their families, and the nation's strongest nursing home safe staffing law. From 2016 to 2022, Milly directed 1199SEIU’s nursing home division covering New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, and New Jersey. She led negotiations for some 45,000 nursing home workers in Greater New York and secured master union contracts that maintain the highest job standards anywhere in the nation. In NY and NJ, Milly has mobilized front-line healthcare workers to win significant increases in state Medicaid funding, spearheading labor-management partnerships as part of this effort. Elected Secretary-Treasurer by the membership in April 2022, Milly today holds the second-highest position within 1199SEIU, building out unionwide strategy and overseeing the finances of the largest union local in the United States