Together we rise for better future

This Labor Day week, Jan Kennedy and the hardworking members of the Service Employees International Union are building a better Ohio and a more just society. Jan is a nurse whose passion is making sure every Ohioan has health care. She’s dedicated to quality care for her patients and good jobs for her co-workers. Jan knows that, together in our union, we can secure a better future for our communities.

SEIU members are not just fighting for new jobs, but for good jobs with higher wages that support a family. We’re raising our voices to defend health care in our state and across the country and to let President Donald Trump and lawmakers know we will hold them accountable in 2018. We are united against white supremacy and committed to dismantling structural racism in our workplaces, our communities, and our government.

Working women and men united together in unions achieved fundamental workplace standards, helped fuel the civil-rights movement and equal rights advances, and created a vibrant, thriving middle class. Now, without strong unions, many of our friends and neighbors are struggling without job security, health-care benefits and any promise of retiring.

When I witness Ohio corporations and politicians fighting to keep our wages low, our healthcare costs high, and to divide us by race, income and sexual orientation, I remember Maya Angelou’s words, “But still, like air, I’ll rise.” Angelou, remembered as a poet and civil-rights activist, began her working years as a fry cook.

On the shoulders of those who united before us, working women and men still rise. We are unwilling to settle for low pay and no voice in the workplace. Together, we can achieve more for our families and communities. Let’s rise.

Becky Williams President SEIU District 1199 Columbus