Issued November 17, 2015
VIDEO: Watch SEIU members speak about why they support Hillary Clinton
WASHINGTON, D.C- After members conducted a rigorous endorsement process for the past several months, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) today endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, calling her a leader who will stand up for the working moms and dads who are leading a movement to build a better future for their families.
“A vote for Hilary Clinton is a giant step toward income equity for women and a better future for all working people,” said Audra Traynham, a 32BJ SEIU cleaner from Philadelphia.
“Time and time again, Hillary Clinton has stood with working people in their fight to improve their lives and their communities. She is uniquely positioned to lift the issues that concern our members like raising the wage, equal pay, immigration reform and criminal justice reform. Hillary has seen strong support among PA voters in the past and this support has only strengthened,” Gabe Morgan, 32BJ Vice President and PA Director. “Hillary is ready to go all the way to the White House and we’re proud to help get her there.”
SEIU’s national months-long member engagement process included a 1,200-member conference in March, three national tele-town hall meetings in which more than 178,000 members participated, three national member polls from Fall 2014 through the Fall of 2015, over 200 local executive board debates and discussions with thousands of local union officers and elected member leaders.
32BJ's Executive Board began discussing the endorsement process in May, and voted in November to support the International Union's endorsement recommendation in recognition of national unity and combined strength.
Hillary Clinton will fight to raise wages and has stood up for the rights of workers to join together in a union at work. She has spoken out in support of the Fight for 15 movement--on the April 15th national day of action, during the New York wage board fight that resulted in $15 for all fast food workers in the state, for the $15 victories in Los Angeles city and county, and again just last week on Nov. 10th during the biggest day of action yet.
Once elected, Hillary Clinton will have the opportunity to address the epidemic of low wages and poor training standards for our nation’s airport workers, who keep travelers safe and airports clean. “Airport jobs should be good jobs — and together, we can make sure they are,” she wrote to airport workers gathered at a national convention last month in Washington.
Clinton has recognized the value of care work in our nation, particularly the home care providers and child care teachers who help educate our future generations and allow our seniors and those with disabilities to live with dignity at home. In many places these workers earn poverty wages with no sick or vacation time and few if any benefits. “One of the things I'm trying to do in this campaign is put raising wages at the center,” Clinton said at an August roundtable meeting in Los Angeles with SEIU home care providers. “I think your skills deserve a lot more pay and benefits than what's currently being made available to you.”
Clinton is also a leader on the core issues SEIU members care about in this election, including commonsense immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship, standing up for voting rights and criminal justice reform that prioritizes ending mass incarceration, and supporting and strengthening the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Clinton’s commitment to quality, affordable health care goes back decades to her courageous efforts in 1994 to ensure health coverage for all. SEIU members know she will fight hard to strengthen the ACA so we never go backwards.
“Hillary Clinton has proven she will fight, deliver, and win for working families,” said SEIU President Mary Kay Henry. “SEIU members and working families across America are part of a growing movement to build a better future for their families, and Hillary Clinton will support and stand with them. This movement for economic, racial, immigrant, and social justice is poised to turn out to vote in November with their families and communities and keep pushing elected officials to deliver once in office.”
SEIU’s two million members will join hands with community partners in a broad movement for economic, social, immigrant and racial justice. Along with the 64 million people who work at jobs paying poverty-level wages, they will be a powerful force during the 2016 elections. Hundreds of thousands of face-to-face and door-to-door contacts, millions of phone calls, robust digital engagement and other activities to get out the vote will counteract the efforts of billionaires and corporations to elect leaders who would answer only to the wealthy few.