On June 8th AFT MA Maintainer 6350 President Nick Gula spoke during the Raise Up Massachusetts kick off rally to support the Fair Share Amendment! The event was sponsored by the Coalition for Social Justice, Greater Southeastern Labor Council, NAACP, MTA, AFTMA, United Steel Workers, AFSCME and SEIU1199.
Nick spoke about the importance of supporting this amendment because the funds will go to fund the CHERISH Act, an act to fully fund public higher education and this amendment will also fund public transportation. Nick spoke in favor of funding for the South Coast Rail line, improving the subway transit systems and the pubic transportation system in the south coast region.
The event was well received with over 180 individuals in attendance. UMass Dr. LaSalle Hall spoke on behalf of the NAACP and Gina O’Toole AFTMA Organizer and Jeremy Shenk AFTMA Campaign Coordinator spoke on behalf of supporting funds for public education. We also had State Representative Tony Cabral, State Representative Chris Hendricks and Senator Mark Montigny’s office aide Jacob Miller. They all spoke in support of the Fair Share Amendment and were hopeful it would pass and be on the 2022 ballot. They also spoke in support of providing the much needed funding for new schools, infrastructure and transportation.
The good news is the amendment passed with 80% favorability. The bad news is two of the region's state representatives voted against it and they were State Representative Paul Schmid (Westport 8th District Bristol County) and State Representative Christopher M. Markey (Dartmouth 9th District Bristol County).
Our campaign will now continue to gather support for voters to vote in favor of the Fair Share Amendment in the Fall of 2022!
Please fill out the pledge here to support the Fair Share Amendment!
Thank you!