WASHINGTON — U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) released the following statement regarding the announcement that Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) will step down from her role in May 2024:

“Mary Kay Henry is a visionary, game changing organizer and powerful voice for justice and progress and has been for the nearly 14 years she’s led SEIU. Her role in leading our country forward cannot be overstated. She has led and inspired so many with her strong moral compass and her articulated vision for incorporating inclusivity and intersectionality into unions, workplaces, and communities across the country. Her years of service have had a direct impact on so many workers’ lives and I thank her for her leadership.

“I have had the honor and pleasure of working with her on the Biden-Sanders Unity Taskforce on Healthcare in 2020, where I served as Co-Chair, and we worked to collectively endorse a plan for long-term care that meets the needs of our country and the workforce. During our push for Build Back Better and critical investments in the care economy, Mary Kay was a top leader in ensuring we pushed for the most progressive policy to be included, as the Progressive Caucus held the line to ensure passage of Build Back Better in the House. On immigration, as the leader of a union made up of millions of immigrant workers, Mary Kay has never wavered in the moral necessity of passing humane immigration reform and never throwing immigrants under the political bus. I have been grateful to call her a close friend, advisor, and partner in building progressive power since coming to Congress. Her work has changed lives and laid the foundation for a better tomorrow.”

Mary Kay Henry has served since 2010 as the International President of SEIU and under her leadership the union led the charge to include a historic federal investment in home-based care and child care and to raise the wages of child care and in-home care workers in the Build Back Better Act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 2021.