From SEIU DISTRICT 1199
Workers with Service Employees International Union District 1199 will join tens of thousands of workers in more than 25 cities on Monday, July 20 in actions to support the Strike for Black Lives, a national day of action demanding that corporations and government take action to confront the systemic racism in our society, economy, and workplaces, that is holding back Black and brown communities.
In Toledo, workers will hold an informational picket at 2 p.m. outside of the Advanced Healthcare Center at 955 Garden Lake Parkway in Toledo.
“Nursing homes across Ohio are failing to provide needed sick days, safe staffing, and adequate PPE,” said Samara Knight, an Executive Vice President with SEIU District 1199. “Workers are standing together because employers across our economy have failed to protect workers. This pandemic has ravaged Black and brown communities across the country. We’re going to keep joining together and speaking out until health care employers and so many others respond with actions that protect all workers,” Knight continued.
“Here in Cleveland, as health care workers, we are at the center of the COVID-19 crisis. I know firsthand how nursing workers are putting their lives on the line every single day without proper protective equipment, paid sick days, or safe staffing levels,” said Chaundra Kidd, a nursing home worker in Cleveland and a member of SEIU District 1199. “Thousands of workers and nursing home residents have lost their lives. I am speaking out to demand greater protections for my coworkers, fellow Union members, and working people here in Ohio and across the nation.”
NATIONWIDE DAY OF ACTION
Nationwide, workers including fast-food, nursing home, and janitorial workers will go on strike July 20. They will be joined by thousands more who will walk off their jobs for eight minutes, 46 seconds to remember George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain and other Black people killed by police and demand an end to the systemic racism that led to their murders and that also exists in our workplaces. Across the country, youth and climate activists will join in the actions to show the intersectionality of the fights for justice.
Strikes and protests will also take place in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Durham, Hartford, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, New Martinsville, New York, Oakland, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Providence, Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, St. Paul, Stamford, Yakima and more
A growing list of major national labor organizations, including the Service Employees International Union, Amalgamated Transit Union, American Federation of Teachers, Communications Workers of America, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, National Domestic Workers Alliance, United Food and Commercial Workers, United Farm Workers and the Fight for $15 and a Union will join forces with leading racial and social justice groups like the Movement for Black Lives, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, March On, Future Coalition, U.S. Youth Climate Strike Coalition, Center for Popular Democracy, Googlers Against Racism, Jobs with Justice and One Fair Wage to take action from coast to coast. A full list of organizations participating in the Strike for Black Lives is available here.
