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This election is unlike any other. 1021 fights to make sure our voices are heard at the ballot box so that we can win on policies that benefit workers and our communities. This year, we have an added obligation to vote for candidates who will protect workers through a pandemic and for ballot measures that fund essential services through this economic crisis.

It is our duty as union members to stand up for our fellow workers and neighbors for workers’ justice. We do that by voting.

On Wednesday, September 9, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 736, a bill that will now correctly classify adjunct faculty members as professional employees, making them exempt from state wage and hour laws. These adjunct faculty members will now be salaried employees, and their pay must be at least twice the state’s minimum wage for a 40-hour workweek.

The November 3 elections are fast approaching. As with any election year, the results will have a real impact on SEIU 1021 members, the services we provide, and the communities where we live, work, and raise our families. That’s why our members choose to endorse candidates in certain races each election year.

As part of this process, SEIU 1021 members participate in a democratic process where we interview and vet candidates, examine their positions on the issues, and discuss how those candidates will help working families if elected.

Click the region where you live or work to see who SEIU 1021 members have endorsed in the November 2020 elections:

• SAN FRANCISCO / SAN MATEO

• EAST BAY

• NORTH CENTRAL

• NORTH COAST

• SAN JOAQUIN / CALAVERAS / AMADOR

This year has been a challenge for all of us. It being an election year on top of everything else may feel like an added burden, but it is actually an opportunity for working people to get ahead, an opportunity we can’t afford to miss.

Since voting by mail is safe and convenient, the governor has ordered that a ballot be mailed to every voter this year. This means that if you are registered to vote with your correct address, you will receive a ballot in the mail. It is easy to check your status online at registertovote.ca.gov/

The following are excepts from SEIU 1021 President Joseph Bryant’s Labor Day op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle.

This Labor Day is unlike any other. We recognize that tens of millions of essential workers continue to risk their lives every day to fight this pandemic — feeding our families, caring for the sick and keeping our communities running. But properly honoring their contributions and their sacrifices will require more than one day of recognition; this moment requires action.

More than a year ago, staff workers at California College of the Arts overwhelmingly voted to form a union. These roughly 150 workers provide a wide range of student services at the school, from clerical and IT work to library staffers and artists in the school’s studios. Since their ratification vote in April of 2019, these staffers have worked to bargain their first contract with CCA administration.

For years, the importance of a robust social safety net and the need for the critical public services like those provided by members of our union has become more clear than ever. 

We are on the frontlines in our communities and know the importance of protecting public services in the face of projected budget shortfalls. That is why it is so important for us to do everything in our power before November to pass Proposition 15, also known as Schools and Communities First.