Groups of activists and unionized workers across the country participated in a walkout on Monday, calling for an end to racism and for more corporate and government support for Black workers.
In LA, the Strike for Black Lives was organized by big labor unions like SEIU, Black Lives Matter LA, the Tenants Union, an alliance of Uber drivers, and others.
The action is organized by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and backed by several social-justice groups and unions whose members work in essential industries that are disproportionately PoC and vulnerable to COVID-19.
“Across the country, people are gaining a new understanding that it is impossible to win economic justice without racial justice. That health care for all, fair immigration policies, and bold action on climate change all require racial justice,” said Mary Kay Henry, president of SEIU.
The Service Employees International Union, which represents 2 million workers in health care, property services and the public sector, announced Thursday that it will throw its grassroots organizing power behind presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential campaign.
“We have to link these fights in a new and deeper way than ever before,” said Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, which represents over 2 million workers in the U.S. and Canada.
Bob Schoonover, president of Service Employees International Union Local 721, praised city leaders for moving ahead with the initiative.
“This agreement rightfully staves off the worst cuts but only in the short-term. We need our leaders to have the courage to keep fighting.” – Bob Schoonover, President of SEIU Local 721 and SEIU California
Some want police to play “a very distant role when homeless encampments are being cleaned up so that police presence doesn’t result in elevated tensions with the unhoused population,” SEIU 721 president Bob Schoonover, whose union represents LAHSA workers, said in a written statement, “while other LAHSA members have expressed the need to have police nearby to help them deal with those specific situations where weapons may pose a danger.”