SEIU Local 200United
2014 Candidate Questionnaire

SEIU Local 200United represents nearly 15,000 members in human service agencies, public sector, colleges and universities, and sub-contracted services. Our history is one of activism and fighting for social justice; therefore, we take the endorsement of candidates very seriously. The questionnaires filled out by candidates will be made available online by Friday, August 29, 2014 and a full list of SEIU Local 200United's endorsed candidates will be placed online on Tuesday, September 30, 2014.

Howie Hawkins
Green Party candidate for Governor of New York

1. Do you support a worker’s right to organize a union? Yes

2. Would you advocate for neutrality during an organizing drive? Yes

3. During an organizing campaign, do you believe public monies should be prohibited from use to coerce or intimidate workers? Yes

4. Do you support raising the state and federal minimum wage? Yes

5. Would you cross a strike or picket line? No

5a. If yes, please explain?

6. Do you support the governors “property tax freeze,” which could potentially put people out of work through forced consolidation? No

7. Do you support good strong public services (public schools, municipal government)? Yes

8. Do you support public workers benefits, such as pension and health insurance? Yes

9. Do you support legislation that cuts tax breaks to corporations and the wealthiest Americans? Yes

Please use the following space to explain any of your answers above.

I am running for a progressive alternative to the conservative fiscal policies of Governor Andrew Cuomo and his Republican opponent, Rob Astorino. I am calling for restoring the more progressive tax structure New York State had in the 1970s in order to revitalize the public sector while providing tax relief to working people. 

Restoring the 1970s progressive tax structure would increase state revenues by about $30 billion a year. The more progressive state income tax would increase revenues by about $8 billion while 95% of New Yorkers would get a tax cut. By keeping rather than rebating 100% of the Stock Transfer Tax, about $15 billion more in revenue would be raised. By eliminating the $7 billion a year in corporate welfare today that the state did not give away in the 1970s, the state would have $7 billion more in revenue. The total of about $30 billion would add more than 20% to New York State's $140 billion budget.

With $30 billion more in state revenue, we could restore full funding for public schools and colleges, pay for the state mandates on local governments through increased revenue sharing, cut regressive local property and sales taxes, restore cuts to public services, begin rebuilding crumbling infrastructure, and start building out a 100% clean energy system by 2030, an economically and technologically feasible project that would create 4.5 million new manufacturing and construction jobs, according to a peer-reviewed study by Cornell and Stanford scientists, engineers, and economists.