Nearly 50 national organizations for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people have signed a labor solidarity statement sponsored by the AFL-CIO constituency group Pride at Work. The statement supports the rights of public employees to bargain.

The statement says, in part:

As national, state and local organizations for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality, we stand in solidarity with teachers, firefighters, nurses and all workers across this country fighting for their basic rights—for all of our rights. We are one.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), which recently signed the statement, issued a statement that called collective bargaining a “key tool in  our ability to attain equal rights.”

HRC affirms our belief that citizens should have the right to have a say in their future.  The ability for workers to come together and negotiate with employers for the best possible future for themselves and their families is and should remain a fundamental tenet of the workplace.