Janitors Endorse Harp

The local branch of a national janitors, security officers, and building service employees union has endorsed Mayor Toni Harp in her reelection bid.

The union, 32BJ SEIU, released that endorsement Thursday afternoon in a press email that also threw the union’s support behind Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, former Danbury City Council President Chris Setaro, and Bridgeport State Senator Marilyn Moore. Bronin is running for reelection as mayor, and Setaro and Moore are running for mayor in their respective cities.

Juan Hernandez, the vice president of 32BJ SEIU in Connecticut, is quoted in the release as praising Harp for being ​“a stalwart defender of working people, immigrants, and people-of-color”.

“Her strong stance for fair wages and benefits for working people and her support of welcoming policies for immigrants has helped make New Haven a leading light in the fight to sustain our urban centers as homes for people of all backgrounds.”

Read the full endorsement press release below.

HARTFORD — After reviewing written questionnaires and conducting in-person candidate interviews, members of 32BJ SEIU voted to endorse Mayor Luke Bronin for re-election in Hartford, Mayor Toni Harp for re-election in New Haven, State Senator Marilyn Moore for Mayor of Bridgeport, and former Danbury City Council President Chris Setaro for mayor of Danbury. The following statement may be attributed to Juan Hernandez, Vice President of 32BJ SEIU in Connecticut.

“As a union representing black, brown and white people from many nations, who work across Connecticut as janitors, security officers and other building service employees, we are proud to endorse these four accomplished and progressive mayoral candidates in the 2019 Democratic primaries. 

Starting just days after his election in 2015, Mayor Luke Bronin stood with 32BJ in our fight to win a new janitorial contract. Since then, he has shown up for our communities and individual members time and time again, helping institute municipal IDs, standing up to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s duplicitous tactics, and defending individual immigrants against the Trump administration vicious deportation machine. Our members know they can also count on Mayor Bronin after November’s election, as we negotiate our next contract for thousands of janitors by December 31.

Likewise, Mayor Toni Harp has been a stalwart defender of working people, immigrants, and people-of-color throughout her tenure as mayor of New Haven, and we are proud to support her re-election to a fourth two-year term. Her strong stance for fair wages and benefits for working people and her support of welcoming policies for immigrants has helped make New Haven a leading light in the fight to sustain our urban centers as homes for people of all backgrounds.

State Senator Marilyn Moore has long championed the needs of low-wage workers, women, people-of-color, immigrants, and all those disempowered in our society. Her tireless fight for a higher minimum wage — including taking a temporary job at Walmart to experience firsthand the plight of low-wage workers — have been triumphantly fulfilled in the past year, and we wholeheartedly support her bid to become mayor of Connecticut’s largest city, Bridgeport.

As a lifelong Danbury resident, ten-year member of the Danbury City Council, and former City Council president, Chris Setaro knows the needs of Danbury as well as any public servant. A strong supporter of union rights and immigrant rights, Setaro would represent the diverse communities of this fast-growing city fairly and faithfully, finally providing residents the progressive vision they deserve.”