About Steven Holguin
Steven was raised in the City Terrace community of East Los Angeles and comes from a multigenerational union family. Steven’s father was a member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), Local 208; his mother was a member of the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) his paternal grandfather and uncles were members of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), Local 1277; and his maternal grandparents were members of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE), Local 11- now UNITE HERE Local 11.
From a young age, Steven understood the vital importance and pride associated with union membership. As a high school student, and later as an assembly worker building electronic parts, Steven also became active in the civil rights movement.
In the late 1970s, as a community organizer, Steven worked closely with a group of young Los Angeles Latinos who went on to become union attorneys, influential union leaders, and leading California elected officials.
Steven began his career as a union-side attorney in the early 1980s. After working under the “Dean of Labor Lawyers in Los Angeles,” Steven went on to establish Holguin Garfield Martinez & Goldberg, APLC, where he served as Founding Partner for over three decades.
Then, seeing the need for a law firm dedicated to adapting to future needs of unions and tailoring representation to ensure their long-term success, Steven founded SR Holguin, PC. SR Holguin, PC is now a full-service union-side labor and employment law firm.
Through his nearly four decades of experience representing private and public sector unions, and multi-employer trust funds, Steven has lived by his motto, “equality for all workers is our goal – every day.”
Aggressive Litigator
An experienced and determined litigator, Steve combines his sharp analytical skills with uncanny abilities to read juries and create winning strategies. He has handled cases involving:
- The Labor-Management Relations Act (LMRA or Taft-Hartley Act)
- The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
- Federal and state discrimination cases based on race, religion, sex, age, and disability
- Wage and Hour laws
- Claims of wrongful termination
- Claims of sexual harassment
Steve also has experience representing clients under the:
- Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
- Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA)
- Sherman Antitrust Act
- Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO)
- Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA)
- California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
Records of Success
Steven is especially proud of certain select accomplishments from throughout his career.
- Steven is especially proud of the integral role he has played and continues to play in the strengthening of labor relations between the Southern California International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Locals and their employers. With Steven’s guidance, these ILWU Locals have successfully fought back attempts by their employers to weaken these Locals.
- When the employers launched a public relations and governmental outreach campaign of misinformation against the dockworkers, Steven led a team that set the record straight, eventually derailing the employers’ attempts to break the union.
- During a lockout, the United States Attorney General attempted to force the union to capitulate to management’s demands and go back to work. Steven worked with officials to convince the courts and the public that the union’s cause was just, and the employers should be held responsible for the lockout.
- Steven successfully defended the fairness of the lottery system of the union to award 2,000 jobs to 500,000 applicants. Workers who were not chosen challenged the lottery as corrupt and discriminatory based on race, age, and favoritism. Despite numerous cases filed in state and federal courts, Steven cleared the union and the lottery of all charges.
- In recognition of his efforts and decades of representation, Steven was made an honorary member of ILWU, Local 13.
- Steven is honored to have represented the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO (the LA Fed) for over a decade. During that time, the LA Fed, the second largest central labor council in the country, became a major force in politics.
- Steven worked closely with union leadership to create a Legal Fund to provide legal services to hospitality workers as a negotiated benefit paid for by employer contributions.
- Steven worked closely with union leadership to win the right for 74,000 Los Angeles County home-care workers to become unionized, at the time the largest organizing victory in the United States since 1937.
Experience on Administrative Agencies and Courts
- Supreme Court of California
- Appellate Courts throughout California
- Superior Courts throughout California
- United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- United States District Courts throughout California and Nevada
- National Labor Relations Board
- United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- United States Department of Labor
- United States Department of Justice
- California Department of Fair Employment and Housing
- California Department of Industrial Relations
- California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board
Education, Honors, and Professional Associations
Professional Associations and Honors:
- Southern California Super Lawyers (2012-Present)
- AFL-CIO Union Lawyers Alliance Member, and Former Member of the Board of Directors
- California Lawyers Association, Labor and Employment Law Section Member
- Mexican American Bar Association of Los Angeles County Member
- International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 13 Honorary Member
- Los Angeles College Faculty Guild, American Federation of Teachers, Local 1521 Member
Community Involvement:
- Los Angeles Trade Technical College Labor Center Adjunct Professor (1990-Present)
- Miguel Contreras Foundation Board of Directors (2014-2017)
- Former Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Pro Tem
Education:
- University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law, Juris Doctor with an emphasis in Labor and Employment Law, 1983
- California State University, Long Beach, Bachelor of Arts, 1979
- East Los Angeles College