Non-violent civil disobedience in Midtown Manhattan for healthcare justice.
Members and community allies, led by 1199SEIU President George Gresham, stopped traffic during rush hour in an act of non-violent civil disobedience in front of the Governor Kathy Hochul’s New York City office on March 29th. They held tombstones illustrating what is at stake if the state fails to inject much-needed dollars into healthcare provision in the FY2024 budget.
The sit-down protest was held after hundreds of members marched behind a New Orleans’-style “second line” funeral procession from the 1199 headquarters to the Governor office.
“In the spirt of Dr. King, who recognized that injustice in healthcare is the most ‘shocking and inhumane’ form of inequality, we are prepared to put our bodies on the line to protect access to healthcare in New York,” said 1199SEIU President George Gresham.
“Cutting funding to safety-net hospitals, reducing wages of low-income homecare workers, and failing to close the Medicaid coverage gap would be disastrous for our healthcare system still reeling from three years of the pandemic.We need Gov. Hochul to recognize the gravity of New York’s healthcare crisis and the life-and-death issues at stake.”
