MSEA-SEIU Joins Growing List Of Unions Endorsing Labor Champion Troy Jackson For U.S. Senate

PORTLAND, ME — Today the Maine Service Employees Association, SEIU Local 1989, endorsed fifth-generation Mainer and logger, longtime union member, and former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson for U.S. Senate. The endorsement comes as Troy campaigns for Senate with a strong focus on his honest roots as a union member and working-class Mainer who got his political start organizing for loggers in The County. Troy has spent his life standing shoulder to shoulder with working Mainers, and he’s ready to take that fight to Washington.

“I’m damn proud to have earned the endorsement of the Maine Service Employees Association, representing over 13,000 service workers across the state,” said Jackson. “In Trump’s broken economy, working people are putting in more hours for less pay while people like Susan Collins benefit from stock trading. I got into politics organizing loggers because the people doing the work deserved a fair shake, and that’s what I’ve fought for ever since. In the Senate, I’ll stand with working people fighting for better wages, safer workplaces, the right to organize, and a government that works for them instead of the wealthy and well-connected. It’s time we brought some working-class power to Washington.”

“Troy  has always listened to my issues and concerns,” said MSEA-SEIU Retiree Member Robyn Egan of Windham, who worked for 37 years for the Maine Department of Corrections. “He has worked with me to find solutions that have benefited myself, my family and my union brothers and sisters. I am supporting Troy Jackson for U.S. Senate and believe he will work diligently for all Maine citizens.”

“Too often, workers lack a voice and are afraid to speak up for fear of losing their jobs and livelihood. Over the last few years, we have all witnessed the hoarding of wealth and the exploitation of hardworking people at the hands of greedy politicians—both nationwide and in our own state,” MSEA-SEIU Member Shane Lewis of Bangor, a housing navigator for Preble Street said. “Troy Jackson has always been an advocate for healthcare, workers' rights, dignity, and a livable wage in the face of an ever-increasing cost of living.

MSEA-SEIU Retiree Member Ginette Rivard of Caribou said Jackson represented her and her fellow citizens well in the Maine Senate. “Troy is a proven champion for Maine people. In his years in the Maine Senate, he has consistently taken on corporations, including Big Pharma, with the goal of making life better for all of us,” said Rivard, who serves as a retiree director on the MSEA-SEIU Board of Directors and as chair of the MSEA-SEIU Retirees Steering Committee. “As my senator during this time, I have found him to be accessible and a persistent advocate for all of us. He is a man of integrity who sets high standards for himself. In Troy, Maine will have a true representative in the U.S. Senate.”

MSEA-SEIU’s endorsement adds to the growing coalition of more than forty unions backing Jackson’s campaign for Senate — a reflection of the broad support he has built from working people across Maine. Jackson has paired that grassroots enthusiasm with strong fundraising and polling showing him in a competitive position to defeat Susan Collins this November.

Labor endorsements include:

AFL-CIO — American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations
AFSCME — American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
AFSCME Council 93
AFT — American Federation of Teachers
Association of Heat and Frost Insulators & Allied Workers Local 6
ATU — Amalgamated Transit Union
CWA — Communications Workers of America
CWA Local 1400
Eastern Maine Labor Council
IAM — International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
IBEW — International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
IBEW Local 104
IBEW Local 567
IFPTE — International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers
Interior Systems Union Local 352
International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental, and Reinforcing Iron Workers (IW) Local 7
International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 4
International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) DC 35
IUOE — International Union of Operating Engineers
IUPAT — International Union of Painters and Allied Trades
Laborers' International Union of North America (LiUNA!) Local 327
Laborers' International Union of North America (LiUNA!) Local 976
LiUNA — Laborers' International Union of North America
Local S7
Maine AFL-CIO
Maine Building & Construction Trades Council
Maine Education Association
Maine State Nurses Association
MSEA-SEIU Local 1989
National Nurses United
National Education Association
North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters
NPMHU 205
SMART — International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers
Southern Maine Labor Council
Teamsters Local 340
UAW Region 9A
UBC & JA Local 349
UFCW Local 1445
UNITE HERE - New England Joint Board
United Steelworkers

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