Issued July 15, 2016
WASHINGTON—In response to Donald Trump’s selection of Gov. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) as his running mate, SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry issued the following statement:
“In Mike Pence, Donald Trump has found a fellow divider and the perfect yes-man. They both want to hold wages down for hardworking Americans, including the people who care for our children and our aging parents; they both want to tear families apart by deporting immigrants; they’re both ignoring the urgent need to address anti-Black racism; and they both deny sound science on climate change.
“Working families should know that if it were up to Mike Pence, the minimum wage would still be $5.15 an hour. He repeatedly opposed minimum wage increases when he was in Congress, and as governor, he has cheered Indiana’s right-to-work-for-less law and repealed a law that had protected construction workers’ wages for 80 years.
“Pence supported allowing discrimination against the LGBT community. And Pence said he’d repeal Obamacare ‘lock, stock and barrel,’ which is another way of saying he would take healthcare away from millions of Americans, just like Trump would.
“The bottom line is that Donald Trump and Mike Pence want to drag America backward together. Hillary Clinton will move this country forward. With this decision, Trump has put the finishing touches on the wall he has built between the Republican party ticket and working families.”