RELEASE: Teachers, Educators and Healthcare, Property Service and Public Service Workers Mobilize in Support of Boston Women’s March for America

January 20, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts
Scott McLennan | smclennan@massteacher.org | 774-253-8142
Nikko Mendoza | nikko.mendoza@1199.org | 617-990-2487
Eugenio Villasante | evillasante@seiu32bj.org | 646-285-1087

Teachers, Educators and Healthcare, Property Service and Public Service Workers Mobilize in Support of Boston Women’s March for America

Service Employees International Union and Massachusetts Teachers Association members will march for equality, dignity and justice for all

Boston, MA (January 20, 2017)Members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA)two of the most prominent and active labor unions in the Commonwealth representing more than 200,000 workers in the Bay Stateare mobilizing to participate in the Boston Women’s March For Americaon Saturday, January 21 beginning at 11 am at the Boston Common.

The Boston Women’s March for America is one of more than 600sister marches occurringacross the United States and the globe and inspired by the Women’s March on Washington. The peaceful, nonpartisan march will demonstrate solidarity with communities most affected by hate, intolerance and acts of violence perpetuated throughout the country – including women, immigrants, people of color, people who identify as LGBTQIA and people with disabilities.

“As we watch the Trump administration take shape, it is clearly bent on weakening workers’ rights, dismantling public education, and marginalizing the concerns of the vulnerable. But I assure you that if we stick together we will be more powerful than the ‘cabinet of billionaires.’  And with that power it is our duty to protect the gains and rights earned through hard-fought struggles and go even further to create a more peaceful and just world,” said Barbara Madeloni, President of the MTA.

“Through my involvement with my union, I found my voice and learned to speak out and stand up for what’s right. We cannot sit on the sidelines when too many of our families, friends and neighbors are victims of intolerance,” said Kindalay Cummings, a Personal Care Attendant from Springfield and member of 1199SEIU. I am proud to join my sisters and brothers in labor and in communities across Massachusetts as we unite to build a movement for true social, economic and racial justice for all.

“As the new president begins his term with the lowest approval rating of any President-Elect in recent memory, families in Massachusetts and across the country are planting the seeds of a movement to defend the democratic values of our republic and oppose Trump's rigged agenda for the 1 percent. Trump´s early anti-labor secretary pick – who sees raising wages as a problem rather than a solution—and the Trump/Ryan plan to Make America Sick Again by cutting taxes on the rich at the expenses of people´s healthcare are already proof that the new anti-worker Republican-controlled Congress and the incoming administration are of the billionaires and for the billionaires,” said Roxana Rivera, Vice President of 32BJ SEIU.

The MTA and SEIU locals in Massachusetts – 32BJ SEIU, 1199SEIU, SEIU 509 and SEIU 888 – joined as official community partners of the Boston Women’s March for America, and several hundred members of these organizations are expected to participate in the march. The march is a unique opportunity for union members to unitewith thousands of other energized Massachusetts residentsinterested in working for equality, dignityand justice for all.

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The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) unites 2 million diverse members in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. SEIU members working in the healthcare industry, public sector and property services believe in the power of joining together on the job to win higher wages and benefits and to create better communities while fighting for a more just society and an economy that works for all of us, not just corporations and the wealthy.

The MTA represents 110,000 members in more than 400 local associations throughout Massachusetts. MTA members are teachers, faculty, professional staff and education support professionals working at public schools, colleges and universities across Massachusetts.