SEIU California

For Immediate Release May 26, 2021

Contact: Mike Roth, 916.813.1554 Maria Elena Jauregui, 818.355.5291 (Spanish-language)

SEIU CA PRAISES NEWSOM’S STRONG LEADERSHIP & RECORD OF ACCOMPLISHMENT AMID UNPRECEDENTED CHALLENGES

Sacramento, CA—The SEIU California State Council announced today they are NO to the recall of Governor Gavin Newsom.

Bob Schoonover, President of SEIU California and Executive Director of SEIU 721, released the following statement:

"SEIU California is strongly backing Governor Gavin Newsom as he fights the distracting and costly partisan recall. Governor Newsom has had our back through unprecedented crises, and now we have his. He has delivered critical lifelines and relief to families hardest hit by the pandemic and has launched a once-in-a-generation recovery plan that will build a better future for all of our families. But the extremist, partisan forces behind the recall are trying to force an election because they can’t win in a normal election. Defeating this recall and staying focused on a recovery that benefits working people will be a top priority for our members this year.”

In his efforts to combat COVID-19, Governor Newsom has demonstrated his dedication to protecting California’s working families and hardest-hit communities, including issuing a statewide mandate that allocated 40% of all vaccine doses to our most vulnerable communities and providing historic financial support to working families, small businesses, and renters. His bold recovery plan will achieve universal pre-K for all California children, allocate billions to confront the homelessness and affordable housing crisis, provide billions to modernize our transportation system, and billions more for wildfire preparedness.

Even before the pandemic, Governor Newsom had amassed a record of bold reforms for California during his first three years in office, including historic legislation expanding California paid family leave, doubling the earned-income tax credit for low-income families, signing an unprecedented bill targeting the misclassification of workers across sectors, expanding paid sick leave to every Californian during the pandemic, and signing legislation allowing childcare providers the right to unionize.

The SEIU California State Council has 17 local unions and over 700,000 members in California. It is a part of the largest and fastest growing union in the United States, the Service Employees International Union, with over 2.0 million members nationwide.

# # #