The Boston Globe reports:
Democratic presidential contender John Edwards picked up the backing today from the 90,000-member Massachusetts chapter of the Service Employees International Union.
The Globe continues:
This is the 11th SEIU affiliate endorsement that the former senator from North Carolina has secured since Monday, representing more than 1 million working families. The other chapters are: California, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Washington, and West Virginia.
"John Edwards understands the everyday struggles of working families," Rocio Saenz, president of SEIU Local 615 in Massachusetts, said in a statement.
The SEIU Massachusetts State Council is the representative body of SEIU local unions in Massachusetts. The locals of the Massachusetts State Council represent over 75,000 SEIU members and their families in Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts SEIU Locals
SEIU F&O Local 3 in Charlestown
SEIU Local 134 in Boston
SEIU Local 211
SEIU Local 263 in Florence
SEIU Local 509 in Watertown
SEIU Local 615 in Boston
SEIU Local 888 in Charlestown
1199 SEIU United Healthcare Worker, offices throughout the state
SEIU Local 1957 in Boston
SEIU Local 5000 (NAGE)
This endorsement is important since it means that if the New Hampshire SEIU endorses Edwards, Massachusetts SEIU can work for Edwards in NH.
Democrats await word from New Hampshire and Nevada.
The Edwards campaign press release on the first 10 state SEIU endorsements.
John Edwards:
"SEIU is at the forefront of the fight to make work pay and provide economic security to hardworking families. I have proudly stood with them on the frontlines of the fight for working Americans for years, and I am honored to earn their members' support in each of these states today. Together, I believe we can fix the broken system in Washington that has been rigged by corporate interests, and we can make this country work for regular Americans again."
The Massachusetts SEIU endorsement puts Edwards over the three million mark in union support, including over 1 million SEIU members (over half of all members with many state councils yet to be heard from). In September, Edwards earned the endorsement of the Transport Workers Union of America (200,000 active and retired members), the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America (520,000 active members), the United Steelworkers (1.2 million active members and retirees), and the United Mine Workers of America (105,000 active members and retirees).
For those counting:
Edwards has 11 SEIU state council endorsements:
California, Idaho, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Washington, and West Virginia
Obama has 4 SEIU state council endorsements: Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Kansas.
Hillary has 0 SEIU state council endorsements.
Crossposted at the Labor-Netroots Coalition for Edwards Blog.
Let me just add that one of the things I learned at YearlyKos was how interested organized labor was in going online and reaching out to the netroots. The SEIU internet team has done a great job in helping locals build impressive websites to serve their members and the community. Congrats whoever you are!