SEIU 721 Partakes in Commit to Equity Launch

SEIU 721 member leader Markeitha Harris was one of speakers featured in the Los Angeles launch of the Commit to Equity campaign, which calls on California’s elected officials to take bold action to fund our communities.

“Leaders in Sacramento – I am speaking to you! Show us you are with working families by taxing the privileged,” said Harris, who is a Public Health nurse. “Show us by closing loopholes that allow billion-dollar corporations to skip out on their fair share of taxes while adding yet another burden on the backs of working people.”

The Commit to Equity campaign launched this week with car caravans and news conferences throughout California. At the SoCal event on Thursday, dozens of cars rolled through Downtown LA with drivers honking their horns and displaying signs calling for economic and racial equity.

The coalition includes a cross-section of labor and social justice organizations. It is demanding that California legislators dismantle the systemic inequality oppressing Black and Brown people, and fund investments to lift up our communities.

Harris, who is stationed with the LA County Department of Children and Family Services, spoke about how public service workers have always been underfunded and asked to do their jobs without the proper resources. Currently, she and other essential DPH nurses are in the field without adequate personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves and N95 respirators.

“Healthcare workers like myself who are on the frontlines have a higher risk of being infected on the job and nearly 600 have already lost their lives in the US alone,” she said. “We cannot let their sacrifices be in vain and must look at this as a time to rebuild and create silver linings in the midst of these dark clouds.”

With Californians suffering under the weight of this unprecedented pandemic, now is the time for elected leaders to seize the opportunity to make real, substantive changes. Working families will not simply accept statements, or empty promises – only action will do.

Together We Rise. Together We Win.