International Union of Operating Engineers Local 4 Endorses Natalie Higgins for 4th Worcester District State Representative

For Immediate Release
July 13, 2016
Contact: Natalie Higgins, 978-602-3772

International Union of Operating Engineers Local 4 Endorses Natalie Higgins for 4th Worcester District State Representative

LEOMINSTER -- The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 4 announced its endorsement of Natalie Higgins, Democratic candidate for State Representative in the 4th Worcester District. “Local 4 is pleased to endorse Natalie Higgins’ candidacy for election to the office of State Representative of the 4th Worcester District,” said  I.U.O.E. Business Representative Michael J Bowes. “Natalie strongly supports issues affecting working families in the Commonwealth.”

Higgins is running for the Leominster House seat that incumbent Rep. Dennis Rosa has announced he will not seek this fall. She is an attorney and executive director of the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts (PHENOM), a nonprofit that advocates for better funding, more affordability and accessibility for students, and better support for our faculty and staff in public higher education.

A 2006 graduate of Leominster High School, Higgins obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from UMass Amherst, earned her law degree from Northeastern University School of Law and was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 2014.

She has worked for the last ten years as a community advocate, first as a Rape Crisis Center Teen Counselor/Community Educator throughout Central Massachusetts.  Then, as a law student, she worked in Governor Patrick’s Office, the Worcester Juvenile Court, Community Legal Aid’s Elder Law Unit, and with the Reproductive Justice Unit of the Human Rights Law Network in New Delhi, India.

Higgins has pledged to defend public education, increase access to mental health services and create economic development opportunities as State Representative. “For the last two years, with PHENOM, I have had the privilege of building coalitions between students, alumni, faculty and staff and creating educational opportunities for students to learn about the important role unions play in our communities,” said Natalie Higgins. “I’m honored to have the support of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 4 in my campaign for State Representative and will continue to advocate for workers’ rights.”

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