John,

I'm excited to share that our campaign received the sole endorsement of SEIU 1021, representing thousands of workers in the public sector, non-profit agencies, and healthcare programs and schools across San Francisco.

I'm humbled and incredibly proud to be recognized by one of San Francisco's progressive bastions, and I'm ready to continue fighting arm-in-arm with our workers for better wages, working conditions, and rights.

SEIU 1021 joins a growing group of nearly a dozen labor unions and councils in San Francisco—representing many thousands of workers' voices—who have endorsed our campaign to-date. 

I was raised by a single mom, and we struggled to make ends meet. She worked odd jobs as a waitress or in factories, and we never had health insurance or the benefits of a union job. I became an orphan at 14 when undiagnosed diabetes took my mom’s life at 40.

My story is not uncommon today in San Francisco and across the country. Yesterday on Market St. and today in Sacramento, hundreds of Uber drivers are protesting the brutal conditions faced by workers in the gig economy. Tens of thousands of Kaiser workers are on the verge of a strike over unfair treatment by our biggest "non-profit" healthcare provider.

I stand with workers all over California in the fight for dignity and respect: for a living wage, universal healthcare, worker protections, and the right to organize.

In solidarity,

-Vallie Brown