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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.

Today, healthcare workers gathered at the Capitol to ensure the passage of SB 275, the Healthcare and Essential Workers Protection Act.  The Act will create a comprehensive PPE plan for California to ensure frontline workers never again find themselves without appropriate protective equipment during a pandemic or other emergency.