POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS
UNITE HERE Local 11 has been a leader in the fight for immigrant rights, and to elect leaders who will represent working families’ interests. Notably, in 2020, Local 11 ran the largest single canvass in Arizona, winning the state for the pro-labor presidential and senate candidates.
In December 2020 Local 11 sent more than 300 leaders to Georgia to join a coalition to campaign for Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, winning two senate seats for the Democrats and ensuring that President Biden will have a majority in the Senate to enact policies to support working families.
Rebecca Jackson: I Did it For My Family
Marilyn Wilbur: I Just Got Arrested for Democracy
Victoria Stahl
Unite Here Hits the Road to Defend Voting Rights
I’m Traveling 60 Hours by Bus from Arizona to D.C. to Fight for Your Right to Vote
‘Everyone deserves the right to vote’: Freedom Riders travel from south to D.C for voting rights bill
Voting is a right I’ve fought to protect
UNITE HERE Local 11 Urges President-Elect Biden to Appoint Julie Su as Labor Secretary
Hospitality union throws its weight behind CA’s Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development
Los Angeles – Today, the Co-Presidents of UNITE HERE Local 11 sent a letter to President-Elect Biden, urging him to appoint Julie Su to the position of Secretary of Labor. Su has earned a reputation as a strong, effective, and results-oriented leader over a twenty-five-year career, recovering the largest amount of unpaid wages on behalf of California workers in the state’s history.
Co-President Susan Minato notes, “She will be a Secretary for all of America’s workers—women and men, white workers and people of color, citizens and immigrants alike. She is absolutely the right person for the extraordinary challenges confronting our country today.”
“We know firsthand Julie’s record of accomplishment in California—as a groundbreaking workers’ rights and civil rights lawyer, as Labor Commissioner, and now as California’s Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development,” says Co-President Kurt Petersen. “As Secretary of Labor for California, she has helped to lead the state’s response to the economic crisis posed by COVID-19.”
Ada Briceño says, “Julie Su’s nomination for Secretary of Labor would be recognition of her strong record here in California, and it would also reflect President-Elect Biden’s commitment to diversify the Cabinet with women and people of color who have been ignored by previous administrations..
UNITE HERE Local 11 in Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia: UNITE HERE Local 11 celebrates the victories of Senators-elect Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to the US Senate after leading a five-week ground operation with nearly 400 canvassers knocking on 550,000 doors to get out the vote in Georgia.
“I am so proud of UNITE HERE Local 11, whose laid-off members canvassed side-by-side with community partners to help win the US Senate runoff race. Our Arizona team moved to Georgia at Thanksgiving and knocked on 550,000 doors in Dekalb and Gwinnett Counties. We had 150,000 conversations with voters about how significant these races were to their lives. They listened and showed up to vote in record numbers.” said Susan Minato, Co-President of UNITE HERE Local 11.
UNITE HERE Local 11 was the largest contingent of the overall UNITE HERE program whose cumulative goal was to knock on 1.5 million doors with more than 1,000 canvassers in Georgia.
“This victory is not just for Georgia, but for all workers of color like myself who, though severely impacted by this pandemic, chose to rise up and fight back together. We will continue to push and make sure that healthcare, relief, jobs and justice are made a priority,” said Marilyn Wilbur, laid off service worker from Arizona State University canvassing in Georgia.
Sí Se Pudo 2020
Our movement has spent years working to elect people who reflect our families and our values. In 2020, UNITE HERE Local 11 members knocked on more than 800,000 voter doors in Arizona. This is the story of the workers from Local 11 who went knocking from door to door in Arizona during a global pandemic tu flip the state blue, and win power and respect for the working class of this nation.