Standing up for working families in Marysville

By Linda Wright. July has been an exciting month for Snohomish County and Working Washington.

My name is Linda Wright and I got involved with OUR Washington and Working Washington because I was sick of waiting for someone else to make the change we need.  I started working with a local community group called OUR Washington and I suggested two actions: a protest against Chase bank, and a town hall meeting with our local elected officials. The group liked my suggestions, and with a lot of planning and support from members of OUR Washington and Working Washington, the two actions were a tremendous success.

Two members went into a local Chase Bank and closed their accounts. Then we presented a bill to Chase Bank for $5 million dollars, payable to the Marysville school district to cover the budget cuts that Chase and other big corporations forced on the state. We also had the bank fax a letter to Regional Director Phyllis Campbell demanding that Chase either pay their fair share of taxes or fund the Marysville Schools’ budget shortfall. We even got a confirmed transmission log proving it was faxed to the Regional Director.   

Building on our success at Chase Bank, we convened a Town Hall with our local elected officials, including state Senator Nick Harper, Rep. Mike Sells, Rep. Kirk Pearson and the Mayor of Marysville, John Nehring, as well as Gayle Miller Asst. Superintendent of Marysville schools. In the true spirit of democracy, we brought our concerns and questions direct from the people to our elected leaders. By the way, the press was there too! We asked each elected official to pledge to work with us, and to prove their commitment by signing our pledge form. Two elected officials, Sen. Harper and Rep. Sells, checked the yes box and promised to work with our community by seeking input from our organizations. With two members from OUR Washington and two supporters from Working Washington, we now have an opportunity to offer recommendations on on closing unjustified tax breaks and restoring funding to education and health care. 

Needless to say, I am excited to be one of the people working with our elected officials to recommend ways to make our economy better for all our neighbors. Representative Sells even invited me to speak to the Snohomish County labor council, which is a federation of 63 unions that represent 42,000 working families.

I felt like the momentum was really growing, so I asked Marysville Mayor John Nehring to let me make a presentation to the City Council with a goal of collaborating with the Mayors of every city in Washington.  We want to send a unified letter to the Governor demanding she work with us to close the tax loopholes for big banks and to get Washington working again.

OUR Washington and Working Washington have been a huge inspiration for me and I am feeling really positive about our success so far and about what we can achieve when we all work together!

Who We Are--Matilde

I worked six years at my last job; we took care of the indoor plants in office buildings throughout downtown Seattle.  I liked the job, I had gotten to know all the people in the offices I worked, going to work was like visiting my friends everyday.  And I was really proud of how good my plants looked. My bosses appreciated my good work too, I got raises every year and very good reviews.  Then the economy went bad. When our clients started cancelling their contracts, they had to let me go.

Now I am at home, looking for a job.  I am responsible for my kids and my parents, we are all living together now, and we make do however we can.  My mom cooks tamales and we sell them to our neighbors, my dad, in his 60’s, looks for yard work even though his body hurts at the end of the day.

I have been cleaning houses but it is not steady work.  I don’t know from one week to the next how many clients I will have.  In the meantime the rent is due every month, food is more expensive and bills need to be paid.  I had saved my tax refund thinking that maybe I could do something nice for the kids, but now we are using the last of the money just to cover the bills.

I don’t know what to do; I pray every day for a job. All I have is my faith to keep me going, I hope something will happen.

CEO's profit while working families lose.

Experts say the recession is over.  Experts are wrong. Paul Wiseman of the Seattle Times recently wrote about how the recession is still going strong for most families and that this recovery has been historically slow.  Wiseman points out that most of the recovery has been directed into corporate profits and CEO bonuses.   Meanwhile workers take home stagnant wages, have less job security, fewer job choices and more reliance on social services.  Working Washington has seen these facts first hand with many of our community members still having a hard time finding good jobs.

Usually, a recession's end means a stronger labor market as the country gets back on its feet.  This recovery is different as most of the recovered capitol and wealth has disproportionally gone to Wall Street and CEO bonuses.  Companies have learned to operate with fewer workers in the lean times and as times get better, companies are choosing not to hire.

People who are lucky enough to find work are sticking to it, even if the job is more work for less pay and no benefits. With the unemployment rate still above nine percent, working families don't have a choice.

What our families really need are good jobs that allow them to have real choices, with the good American benefits that rebuild confidence in the economy. People should be able to live in decent housing, with food on the table, and opportunities to build a better life for themselves and for their children. People who work for a living deserve a fair shot at success.

Experts say the economy is getting stronger, and it is if you happen to be a CEO -- but the rest of us are still struggling to make ends meet. Corporate profits are skyrocketing and CEO bonuses are at record highs, but that "recovery" hasn't reached the rest of us.

The truth is that the economy will not bounce back on its own. The choices that politicians and elected officials make determine the rules of the economy. The choices that companies and CEOs make determine whether we will have enough good jobs to strengthen the middle class. Working families need to work together to make sure politicians and corporations make the right choices for our future.

It's time for us to come together and demand a change. We can't wait any longer. It's time for Congress and CEO's to give back to the communities that keep them in business by investing in good jobs.

Washingtonians to Chase "Create good jobs!"

Washingtonians are telling Chase Bank to create good jobs in our communities and to stop practices that are hurting working families.  On Saturday, June 25, community members from Auburn, Federal Way, Burien and Seattle said “enough with business as usual” and went to local Chase Banks to make their voices known.

We delivered letters from community members who live near the Chase Bank in Seattle on 23rd and Jackson to the branch manager.  We told them that Chase had not been giving back to the community, even though the community and the community's customers benefit them.  We had dozens of signed letters from neighbors who all live within a mile of the branch. This was the first time that Octavius, a young man from Seattle, had ever taken action to fight for his community.  He saw that the banks were getting bailouts and bonuses and that his community was not getting anything in return.

“We are just asking for the jobs that Chase took away from us,” said Octavius.

Chase laid off 3400 Washingtonians when it took over Washington Mutual.

“I was talking to some people who thought that WaMu made bad decisions,” said Octavius, “Chase is benefiting from those mistakes and none of us are.  That’s why I’m out here.”

CEO pay skyrockets, while ours is grounded

The economy is doing great, if you’re a CEO.  Last year Chase Bank CEO Jamie Dimon made $20 million dollars in executive pay and bonuses.  That’s 925 times more than the average worker at Chase.  His earnings and many other CEOs pay have risen sharply over the last few years.  Meanwhile the average worker has seen their pay stagnate and their real earning power has actually decreased, but CEOs don’t want you to know that. According to an article in the Seattle Times, CEO’s from 81 major companies are fighting now to stop legislation that would require them to compare their salaries with the salaries of their workers.  They do not want to disclose how much of a gulf there is between those of us fighting to stay in the middle class, and the privileged few.  Some companies pay their executives up to 400 times what the average worker makes.  No wonder they want to keep that a secret.

Every time a CEO cuts himself a bonus check, he’s cutting the paychecks of working families.  When CEO’s increase their bonuses and executive pay by putting us out of work, we have the right to join together to stop them.

Working families don’t expect to get rich or to be famous, but we do expect living wages and good American benefits for the hard work that we do every day.

We know that the middle class is in danger because of the disparity between workers and executive’s pay and for the first time in our nation's history, some of us believe our kids will fewer opportunities than we did.  That’s not right and we won’t stand for it.

We’re fighting back against big banks and CEOs who broke our economy.  We are fighting for a more fair economy where hard work is rewarded and our children have a brighter future.  Join us today at www.workingwa.org to get involved.

We are organizing and we are winning.

Who We Are--Michael Neale

My name is Michael Neale.  I fought for my country, got hurt, disabled and I don’t have health care.  I drifted for a while and I was homeless for about five years before I was able to get back to work as a machine operator.  I’m glad to be working, but this job just doesn't pay a living wage. I’m raising a son on my own and I’m barely able to pay my bills.

I had to claw for anything I ever got but I know that we have to stand together if we want to make the big changes.

I’m part of Working Washington because we have to hold big corporations like Chase Bank accountable for their decisions that make families like mine have to struggle.

If we work together, friends, families and neighbors we can push back.  We have to because hard working families shouldn't have to worry about how they are going to pay their next bill or watch their children go hungry.

It’s time for Congress to listen to us.

Our families are hurting and our communities are suffering. The experts say the recession is over, but finding a good job is harder than it’s been in years -- and for those of us who do have jobs, they are often not enough to make ends meet. Too many of us are finding that even though we worked hard and played by the rules, those who broke the economy didn’t and now we’re all suffering..

Do you have a story about the difficult choices you’ve had to make in this economy? Share it with us.

Does Congress get it? Do they understand that this economy will not recover until people like us can bring home a decent wage, have quality affordable health insurance, and be able to to provide the kind of security for our families that they need?

They won’t unless you tell them. They won’t unless you share your story with them. ProgressiveCongress.org is making this easier by bringing a delegation of Members of Congress to Seattle on Saturday, July 23 -- so we can tell them what we need them to do to fix the economy.

Can you commit to attend?

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Tell Congress We Need Good Jobs

It’s time for the politicians to listen to us and not the other way around. Sign up here to tell progressive Members of Congress your story.

We’re frustrated about the lack of good jobs and the devastating effect it’s having on our families and communities.

ProgressiveCongress.org is hosting an event to give us the opportunity to talk with a pro-worker delegation that wants to hear the stories of those who have struggled and need more help than what they’re getting from Washington D.C.

This is our chance to tell Congress what we need from them.

RSVP to tell the Progressive Caucus your story and how the economic downturn and lack of meaningful work has affected you and your family.

Progress through Organizing

Working together works. Just ask Meeka and Christina -- they worked together to get the city of Renton to respond to their campaign for good housing and good jobs for their community, Sunset Terrace.While Meeka Gadson wouldn’t consider herself an activist, she is someone who deeply cares for the welfare of her neighbors. So when she learned that her neighbors will soon be forced to leave their homes as part of an area development plan, Ms. Meeka knew she had to act. Together with her friend Christina Fleming and a dozen neighbors, they started organizing the other residents of their complex and worked to get the details of the relocation plan for the residents whose homes would be demolished.

Along with Working Washington, Meeka and Fleming educated residents about what was going to happen and let them know they had options to ensure that those making the decisions would hear their concerns.

They started a petition drive, collecting of signatures of almost 70% of the complex’s residents to show the city council just how worried they were. Their petition called for:

• Clarity about relocation,
• The least disruptive relocation options,
• Meetings with the Housing Authority, and
• First access for the community to jobs from commercial space creation.

“It’s unbelievable that the Mayor’s office even called me personally” said Meeka after she led a group of 19 residents presenting the signatures to City Council.

The presentation went very well. They are now becoming collaborating partners in bringing good jobs to residents and the city of Renton.

“This just shows what organizing can do,” said Christina.

Just 5 minutes to help create good jobs?

Working Washington is conducting a jobs survey in the South Sound region to learn more about the challenges area residents are facing and what types of good jobs people need in their communities.

We know that communities around the Puget Sound are struggling.

There is high unemployment, the jobs that exist are too often low-wage jobs with no benefits, and people are struggling to find work that fits their skills and experience.  We also know that most economic reports don’t get at the emotional toll families must endure as jobs become increasingly scarce.

Meanwhile, mega-banks like Chase make millions of dollars each year by charging its customers tricky fees – money that stays in Chase’s pocket rather than making its way to communities that are still recovering from the Great Recession.

The economy won’t recover until the middle class is able to find meaningful work, which won’t happen until corporations like Chase use their billions to invest in the communities that helped make them successful.

In order to make community reinvestment a priority, we need to hear from community members about the employment and economic situation that families are facing.

Please help us by taking 5 minutes to complete the survey below.

http://action.workingwa.org/page/s/jobssurvey