Member Voices
January 9, 2025
In the days immediately following the presidential election, 1199 Magazine invited some of the most politically active Union Delegates to a virtual summit to share their feelings about the results and hear about their vision for future political action. Here is what they said, lightly edited for clarity:
Secretary-Treasurer
In our nation’s politics and in our institutions, there is no more powerful movement of healthcare workers than 1199SEIU. Our accomplishments don’t begin and end with one Presidential election—what we achieve is built by decades of perseverance of struggle. Through good times and through challenging ones, we adapt our strategy to meet the moment we are in and our new political context.
In a Union as diverse as ours, there is a range of emotions as we reflect on the past year and our road ahead. In the days immediately following the presidential election, some of the most politically-active Union Delegates came together for a virtual summit to share their feelings about the results and their vision for future political action.
Let’s continue to have these important conversations amongst each other. It’s through mutual support and our collective wisdom that we will chart our path forward and continue winning power for working people.
OR Tech at Franklin Hospital Medical Center, Long Island, with House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries
The outcome hurts my heart, especially for the Haitian community, because the people that are here in this country are running away from the gang violence in Haiti. Woman that are being sexually abused and they cannot go back. There’s a law in Haiti where women are not allowed to have an abortion [even in cases of rape]. You have all these kids in the country that are unwanted because they were not brought into the world in the right way.
Here in New York, I have put a group together of about 75 Haitian people who are not citizens, but who would like to be. So far, I have helped 20 people apply for U.S. citizenship.
We're going to keep on fighting, because when we fight, we win. We’re going to teach people about their rights and about how to vote.
My family has a background in politics. My grandfather was killed by the former Haitian president, Papa Doc. So, politics runs in my blood. 1199 gives me a chance to express my concern and my passion and its wonderful. But one thing I regret is that we don’t target the younger generation enough. They don’t understand the value of voting. We need to create community spaces where young people feel welcome.
Dietary Aide at Tamarac Rehabilitation and Health Center near Fort Lauderdale, FL
As 1199, I feel like we did an awesome job. We did our part. And I still feel like when we fight, we do win.
I feel like more people could have got out and voted because I found out that a lot of people did not vote, and a lot of people went to the polls and did not even know that they were not registered. And to be honest, I was very disappointed in some of the people. I was disappointed because we worked hard. But you can't control a person's mind.
I'm praying a lot and I'm staying mindful. I'm keeping my eyes open and my ears open because you don't know what's going to happen next, you know?
So we just have to be ready and continue to fight.
I bought my grandsons along this time when we knocked on doors on our Super Saturdays [in Florida]. He’s 22 years old and he was voting for the very first time in his life. So, that was a plus for me right there to get the kids involved in some kind of way.
PCA from New Bedford, MA
Here in Massachusetts, which is a Democratic state, we came across a lot of people who were against Kamala Harris because she was female. We did try to educate people and give them an idea [what life] would look without her.
I’m upset but at the same time I know that 1199ers are fighters. We don't give up, right. From right now all the way into January, we have to educate ourselves about his plan for 2025.
We are going to push push, push and make sure that he understands that he cannot play with people's lives.
We're going to make sure that we let each and every one of our members know that we’re not giving up. We’re going to keep on fighting.
Let's start with our own kids. That's the perfect way to do it, because most of us have children so that we should start with our own kids. My daughter enjoys it every time that we have to go to the State House to scream and march and stuff. She's there with me.
Advanced Practice RN at UHealth Tower hospital in Miami, FL
I'm pretty disappointed with the ballot outcome here in Florida. (Amendment 4, which set out to overturn the state's 6-week abortion ban, failed to pass with 57 per cent of the votes, falling just under 3 per cent short of the 60 per cent majority needed in the state.)
That amendment was really important to me. I think was important to a lot of women. It was pretty difficult to get to a 60 per majority. It is so weird because 43 per cent said no and 57 per cent said yes. In any other decision, 57 beats 43. But here in Florida, 43 beat 57.
I just have to remember this is not a rule set in stone. The rule that we have in place was only put in place a few years ago. So my thoughts go to how do we overturn that rule?
It's a crazy rule.
We have to work to educate people about what those bad outcomes can look like [if women are denied access to reproductive health care].
When it comes to having a female president, I think that we are way overdue. We’re here questioning whether a woman really run this country, when we have other countries that have had female presidents without a thought.
I was born in Panama. We've had Panamanian female presidents there, and in other countries too, like Ethiopia. Dominica and Iceland, just to name a few.
I'm not, shall I say, a very seasoned political person, who knows how to counter initiatives and how to protest. But I do want to be part of that because we can't just lay down, sit down, and cry for the next four years and hope and wait for four years, for our chance again.
Housekeeper at Oxford Nursing Home in Brooklyn, NY, with his son
It was a punch in the stomach when the outcome didn't come out the way we’d hoped. I think a lot of us were hurt. As the father of two daughters, I wanted them to know that one day they could run for president.
Instead [they see] you have a criminal running for president again and at the same time you have innocent people that are in jail still facing time that for something they never did.
But the fight's not over. I think one thing we always have to remember is that we’ve been through tougher times than this, right? We came out of slavery with no shoes on.
We have a couple of accomplishments, too. Angela Alsobrooks won her race for U.S. Senate in Maryland. I did phone banking for her.
When I was door knocking with my son, the cops did run up on us and asked what we were doing. I said: “What do you mean, what am I doing? I'm out here door knocking for your local officials and for the presidential election.”
It was a really educational moment for my son. It let him understand that this is what goes on in life, right? And don't panic.
I think educating each other is the key right now and for the next four years. A lot of people spoke about stimulus checks that #45 signed in his first term, not knowing that it didn’t come from him. He just signed them.
Power to the people, so we can overcome the people with power!
Mental Health Tech at Bon Secours Hospital in Port Jervis, NY
I have a mixed bag of emotions. I think I'm kind of in shock still. I haven't really processed everything, but I’m a very spiritual person and I do believe that there is a bigger plan in place. I first thing I thought of was when COVID hit us and how much of the unknown that we had to deal with. And everybody was so scared.
One of the things that Kamala said in her concession speech that really sat with me was:
“When we fight, We win”. That's our Union motto and I think it was great that she said that, and she reminded people of that.
We need to go full force now. It's not time to lay back and rest and say, OK, it's over.
No, we're just starting now. We have to push even harder, that's all. We're still fighting, and it's not over.
Home Care worker from the Bronx, NY
All of us are very clear that we did a good job and worked a lot. We can’t sit down and cry and suffer for what happened now. We have to continue. We have to stand up together and continue to fight.
I have had to start going to a different church because the priest at my former church was telling lies to the congregation.
After mass, he said that he did not want to tell anyone how to vote, but they should be careful because one party was in favor of allowing abortions up until full gestation at nine weeks. I knew this wasn’t true.
How can a faith leader say that? What doctor is going to perform an abortion at nine months? He also said one party wanted to take away parental rights and allow children as young as three to have [gender reassignment] operations. There were too many lies being told before the election.
It may be too late for us to try to educate the people who voted [in November] based on lies, but we can’t let this happen again.
We have to be prepared for the next election. We have to continue standing up for our rights. This man is not going to stop us.
Respiratory Therapist at the Northern Manor nursing home in Nanuet, NY
I was preparing myself because it was a shock to me when Hillary Clinton lost. But it felt like a punch in the gut even so.
Everybody has amnesia. Not remembering that while he was in power, we had a pandemic. People were dying. I was watching. Young people, black people, white people, all were dying left and right, and we didn’t know the reason why they were dying because it was something new that we were experiencing. And this man goes on national TV and says that it was a fake disease.
But we will not have this guy destroy our mental health or the way we think. We will continue fighting for what is right. That's what we do as 1199 members. We will fight for our rights. We will fight for human rights and for women's rights and all the other rights that we have.