Local 21 members joined nearly 100 union siblings and community activists on November 16th to launch the Bay Area campaign to win Schools & Communities First, a transformative measure to reinvest in California’s public services. Bianca Polovina, SF At-Large Chapter VP, gave a presentation for those in attendance: “We’re going to make corporations pay their fair share. This will be history-making.”
Schools & Communities First will close a forty-year-old corporate tax loophole, reclaiming over $12 billion in additional yearly revenue for California—over $800 million of which will go to San Francisco. Currently, homeowners are on the hook for 72% of the tax burden while corporations pay only 28%. The measure will make corporations finally pay their fair share of taxes, while protecting small business and homeowners.
This new revenue will go to funding public education and public services. In public education we can put it towards much needed school nurses, counselors, and reduced class-sizes. And we can reinvest in our communities: libraries, health clinics, infrastructure, senior services, fixing potholes, housing and homelessness services—the sky is the limit!
As Bianca explains in a video we produced to promote the kickoff, “it’s going to protect our jobs, our benefits, our wages, and it’s going to provide the city services we depend on.”
The first step of the campaign is to collect thousands of petition signatures from our coworkers, family members, friends, and strangers. This is how we’re going to get the word out and get Schools & Communities First on the ballot.
Billionaires and special interests are going to spend millions to misinform the public and defeat this campaign—but we can win with people power. Join us.
Learn more about Schools and Communities First here:
https://www.schoolsandcommunitiesfirst.org/
