SEIU NJ State Council endorses Mayor Baraka

The SEIU New Jersey State Council has endorsed Newark Mayor Ras Baraka for reelection, citing a record of progress in the state’s largest city where thousands of the council’s union members live and work.

“Mayor Baraka’s leadership has helped move Newark forward through the worst days of the pandemic. We look forward to investments in public education and quality healthcare that will improve members’ lives during his third term,” said council President Milly Silva, Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU, which represents nursing home workers. “We also trust that the administration will make it a priority to build better relationships between city residents and law enforcement.”

The SEIU NJ State Council is an umbrella group representing service employees statewide. It made the endorsement after a virtual townhall last month in which Baraka fielded questions and concerns from members, including municipal sanitation workers and cafeteria workers in the Newark Public Schools, Certified Nursing Assistants who work at long-term care facilities in the city, and resident physicians at University Hospital and St. Michael’s Medical Center.

“Our workers are essential to the city and we need an administration that has our concerns at heart. We trust that Mayor Baraka will continue to work with us for equity and progress in Newark,” said council Vice-President Megan Chambers, Co-Manager of the Laundry, Distribution and Food Service (LDFS) Joint Board, Workers United, SEIU, which includes employees who work for the city and its school board in Local 3 and Local 617.

“Our resident physicians work long hours doing critical work at Newark’s busiest hospitals and it’s important that the city administration hear and respond to our concerns. We look forward to continuing a productive relationship with the Baraka Administration,” said Dr. Tulsi Pandat, Regional Vice President for the Committee of Interns and Residents, SEIU, who is a resident physician at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.

Baraka is seeking a third four-year term in the election on May 10.

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The SEIU New Jersey State Council is comprised of unions representing service employees across the state including those working in health care, distribution centers, laundries and motor vehicle inspection stations. In Newark, our unions represent municipal employees, and workers in the housing authority and public schools as well as resident physicians in the city’s largest hospital.