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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 8, 2012
For More Information: Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, President, 919-394-8137
Mrs. Amina J. Turner, Executive Director, 919-682-4700
Leader of Largest Healthcare Union in the Nation to Speak on Jones Street Saturday Morning, February 11th
The President of HealthcareWorkers Union, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the largest healthcare union in the country representing over 350,000 workers, will bring greetings to human rights and labor rights advocates assembled in front of the State Legislature on Saturday morning, February 11th. George Gresham leads 1199 SEIU, which grew out of the civil rights movement in the 1960′s. 1199 organized hospital workers in New York City in one of the first grass-roots fusion movements in a large metropolitan area, since the advent of Jim Crow in the late 1800′s. Gresham is also Vice President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the fastest growing union in North America, with over 2.1 million members.
Gresham notified Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, President of the NC NAACP, that 1199 SEIU would be on Jones Street, with his executive staff and other members traveling to Raleigh in solidarity with the struggles of North Carolina workers and those who are out of work. "On HKonJ Day," Gresham told Barber, "We are all North Carolinians."
The Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) People’s Assembly Coalition is one of the nation’s broadest, most diverse anti-racist, anti-poverty and anti-war coalitions in the nation. For over six years, the HKonJ Coalition has fought for its 14-Point Legislative Agenda. (attached). On Saturday, February at 9:30 AM, marchers will assemble at Shaw University on South Street and march to the General Assembly on Jones Street at 10:30 AM for a People’s General Assembly.
"Protecting voting rights, fighting for labor rights and demanding economic justice are essential to a just and progressive society," said Rev. Barber. "We in the civil rights and labor rights community march together and stand together as we work for the common good…together. For six years, the North Carolina NAACP and the HKonJ People’s Assembly Coalition of over 125 local and national organizations have fought for the rights of workers to livable wages and the end to the Jim Crow Law GS 95-98 that makes it illegal for public employees to exercise their collective bargaining rights in North Carolina."
"The support of 1199 and SEIU, and my friend George Gresham and the proud members of 1199 who are spending their Saturday on buses to be with us is a wonderful tribute to the solidarity of labor and civil rights."
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Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.
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