The members of SEIU Florida are endorsing Patrick Murphy in his fight with Alan Grayson to become Florida’s next U.S. Senator. SEIU Florida represents over 55,000 active and retired healthcare professionals, public employees, and property service workers in the state of Florida.
“We support candidates who are willing to be a champion and a voice for working-class families who are sick and tired of being pushed aside,” said Monica Russo, SEIU Florida President. “Patrick Murphy is one of those candidates.”
“You can count on my support for raising the minimum wage to $15, working with all my colleagues trying to convince them to do that,” Congressman Patrick Murphy told SEIU healthcare workers earlier this month in comments featured in SEIU’s endorsement video.
“There’s this mentality on the other side of the aisle that believes that people are ‘takers,’ that they don’t pay taxes, that they’re not working hard,” Murphy added. “They don’t understand the real struggles. They don’t understand the vast, vast majority of people on minimum wage want to be working, want to be making more money, want to be giving more back to the community.”
The endorsement is a blow to progressive leader Alan Grayson in the heated Democratic primary. SEIU members provide vital public services in Florida’s hospitals, nursing homes, public schools, community colleges, municipal and county governments, malls, and universities. With over 2.1 million members, SEIU is the fastest-growing union in North America. The union likes what Murphy is saying about the dramatic impacts of low wages on millions of hardworking Florida families – and that’s definitely irking Grayson.
“It’s unacceptable to be on minimum wage, to be working 40 hours a week, and be in poverty,” Murphy said. “That’s not acceptable in this country.”
