Media contact: Ed Gilhuly | 305-807-6906 | egilhuly@leftcom.com

“We work, but we mourn. The caregivers of 1199SEIU Florida continue to be focused on protecting the public in this historic COVID-19 health crisis, but we do so with especially heavy hearts in this time.”

“The deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and so many before them highlight an abhorrent devaluation of Black lives. It’s enraging and exhausting at once that black, brown, and poor people, always pay such a price. When it comes at the hands of the state, we’re left with the absolute disgust we’re feeling right now, and the politicians who stoke division, intimidation and violence are distinctly appalling.”

“Our members of all backgrounds are dedicated to providing care and serving Florida families, and our organization’s mission statement includes ‘good jobs’ as well as ‘racial justice.’ But all of us – in communities of every shade and privilege -- must be committed to this cause of caring and valuing one another. Black lives matter, precisely because all lives must matter.”

“We’ve heard ‘we’re all in this together’ often during the COVID-19 crisis. 1199SEIU caregivers live and believe this, and our systems and society overall must start behaving in the same manner. No justice. No peace!”