Actors' Equity Association announced that Equity’s National Council has voted to endorse Gavin Newsom’s campaign for Governor on behalf of the 10,174 Equity members who live and work in the state of California.
"Gavin Newsom is a strong believer in workers’ rights, including and especially the right to organize and collectively bargain as union members. Protecting unions is more important than ever, because so many politicians claim to support the middle class while actually doing the bidding of corporations and lobbyists. As a result, workers everywhere—including artists—are fighting for our pensions, our dignity, and our ability to leverage our collective will in order to achieve fair wages and working conditions," said Kate Shindle, President of Actors’ Equity Association. "As Mayor of San Francisco and as Lieutenant Governor, Gavin Newsom has been a vocal supporter of the arts as both a cultural benefit and a major economic force. I’m confident that he will be a pro-union, pro-arts Governor, which will both benefit California directly and make a strong national statement that the arts are essential to a thriving economy."
Endorsed by the California AFL-CIO, Newsom has been a long-time supporter of the right of workers to form a union. He was one of the first statewide candidates to support a $15 minimum wage and believes that health care is a human right.
During his multiple failed campaigns for public office, John Cox, Newsom’s opponent, has previously said he opposes even the concept of a minimum wage, has touted his lifetime membership in the NRA as a reason he opposes gun violence prevention measures, and said he opposes universal health care coverage.
Equity’s official public policy priorities include defending and protecting the right to collective bargaining, a strong minimum wage, stronger federal and state arts funding, gun violence prevention, universal health care, tax fairness and LGBTQ non-discrimination protections.
October 29, 2018
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