October 28, 2014
By Marc Bussanich
New York, NY—The Green Party candidate running to be New York’s next governor said at a presser in Greenwich Village on Monday morning that both public and private-sector unions would be willing to officially endorse his candidacy if the Greens were clocking double-digit poll numbers.
The presser was held outside the iconic Stonewall Inn bar on Christopher Street where Mr. Hawkins announced his support for Alex Meadows, whose challenging Assemblywoman Deborah Glick for the 66th Assembly District, which includes the West Village, Hudson Square, Tribeca, Soho, Noho, the East Village west of First Ave. and a small part of Union Square.
In the accompanying video interview, Hawkins explained his support for Mr. Meadows.
“I’m here to endorse Mr. Meadows who’s running on the progressive party line against the Democratic incumbent Deborah Glick who hasn’t been challenged in a generation. She’s taken the people in this district for granted. He endorsed me as did Arthur Schwarz, the district leader in the area, and Alex Roskoff, the president of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club. We’re here as both independent progressives in the Green Party and Democratic progressives that we’re not going to be taken for granted anymore,” said Hawkins.
Mr. Hawkins is a member of Teamsters Local 317 working for United Parcel Service in Syracuse, and has picked up official endorsements from Teamsters locals upstate. But he hasn’t picked up any official endorsements from public sector unions representing almost 300,000 workers or private sector workers in New York City. We asked him about the lack of those endorsements for his campaign.
“I think the official union endorsements will come when the Green Party is getting in the double digits, and then suddenly we’re a viable option. Right now they don’t want to stick their necks out. But I do get union member votes, particularly Teamsters,” Hawkins said.
@marcbuss marc@laborpress.org
