The AFT Massachusetts has endorsed Ed Markey for re-election to the United States Senate and encourages all AFT Massachusetts members to cast their vote for Senator Ed Markey on Tuesday, September 1 (Primary Election Day) and Tuesday, November 3 (General Election Day).
“I am incredibly grateful for the support of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts,” said Senator Markey. “Our school employees and our educators are heroes. Their work is instrumental to ensuring that our children are prepared for the future. They deserve to have wages, health care, and other benefits that reflect just how vital their role is. While their usual tools of tablets and pencils have been replaced by tablets with pixels in the coronavirus pandemic, these educators’ skills and commitment remain integral to the health, well-being, and success of Massachusetts’s students. My father was a union leader, and I learned just how critical unions are to families, to our economy, and to our democracy. I will always fight for AFT Massachusetts, and I am proud that they will fight for me.”
Ed Markey: A champion for public education, students and educators!
As communities around our state struggle to recover from the devastating effects of the coronavirus, Sen. Markey has been a consistent advocate for robust funding for public education.
He has shown strong leadership in the U.S. Senate by urging the leadership to:
- Immediately follow the House of Representatives and pass the HEROES Act,
- Provide $875 billion to support cities and states, and
- Support K-12 education with at least $175 billion in additional coronavirus relief.
“Senator Ed Markey has been a supporter of public education for decades and has consistently fought for adequate funding - not because we asked him to, but because he knows that public education is the pathway to better communities,” said AFT Massachusetts President Beth Kontos.
Ed Markey is listening to educators about reopening schools safely.
Sen. Ed Markey understands that the voices of educators must be included in developing plans to reopen our state’s public schools safely. He knows that input from teachers and school workers, as frontline professionals, is vital to ensuring that reopening plans work for our students and families.
He also knows that reopening Massachusetts will require substantial new resources
to comply with social distancing in classrooms, extra cleaning and other measures to ensure that schools are safe for students and staff. Sen. Markey is demonstrating strong leadership for the people of Massachusetts by urging his colleagues in the U.S. Senate to pass the HEROES Act.
Ed Markey wants to fund internet access to keep all students learning!
When the coronavirus pandemic forced massive school closings around the country, some 9 to 12 million students without internet in their homes were unable to participate in online learning.
That’s why Sen. Ed Markey has led the charge for the E-Rate program to provide $4 billion in emergency connectivity Wi-Fi hotspots, modems, routers and other devices to for students who need them. The funding will help close the “homework gap” for students who struggle to complete tech-based assignments because they don’t have internet access at home.
“We cannot let students without internet access be left behind during #COVID19,” Markey said in an April tweet. He believes the E-Rate program helps “ensure ALL students can keep learning.”
Ed Markey believes every child can achieve the dream of a college education.
The dream of a college education should not turn into a nightmare of staggering student debt. Sen. Ed. Markey supports broad student debt relief and is a co-sponsor of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Student Loan Debt Relief Act, which would:
- Cancel up to $50,000 in student debt for each individual,
- Refinance student debt to the lowest interest rate possible, and
- Allow discharge of student debt in bankruptcy.
Ed Markey stands with Massachusetts’ working families.
Many working families are reeling from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and are struggling to make it. Sen. Ed Markey is fighting for expanded and more generous unemployment assistance so that Massachusetts families do not fall through the cracks if they lose their jobs during the pandemic.
He joined forces with his U.S. Senate colleagues, Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris, to create a plan to strengthen the federal safety net by providing relief to Americans struggling to survive through the pandemic.
“It would ensure that they would have the income in their pockets to be able to make it through this crisis,” Markey said.
Ed Markey wants to protect our dedicated frontline workers.
Sen. Ed Markey has fought to get frontline workers the protective equipment they need and is working to secure a $25,000 pandemic premium pay increase for essential workers during this crisis.
“Workers should not need to risk their lives providing essential services,” the senator wrote in his letter to FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor. “The federal government must ensure that all frontline workers are valued and protected. In many cases, corporations continue to put profit over worker safety.”
Ed Markey knows that addressing climate change can create good union jobs.
Ed Markey is a national leader on energy, climate change and the environment. He understands that addressing climate change and creating a low-carbon economy can be done in a way that benefits workers and our communities, rather than corporations and the wealthy.
Sen. Markey partnered with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to introduce the Green New Deal, which explicitly calls for high-quality, union jobs as an essential centerpiece to the historic, generational commitment to address climate change.
AFT Massachusetts has endorsed Sen. Ed Markey for re-election to the U.S. Senate.
How you vote is a personal decision, but AFT Massachusetts encourages AFT members to vote for Sen. Ed Markey in the Primary Election on Tuesday, Sept. 1 and in the General Election on Tuesday, Nov. 3.