In this video, Chris talks about being laid off, and how he has to choose between paying bills and feeding the kids. But America isn't a poor country - where is the investment in jobs, education and skills training for our families?
SeaTac airport workers propose a bill of workers' rights
Update: Here are photos from the event as workers tell elected officials they need good jobs.
Seattle Port Commissioners and SeaTac City Council members listened closely as over 70 workers crammed into a community meeting room at SeaTac Airport on July 13. Working Washington was there to share our stories about airport work, and how many people aren’t allowed access to full time work or health care benefits. Too many people work hard for the airport, but don’t receive even basic respect for the necessary work that one of the commissioners said “made this airport work.”
Community members talked about how they did not want riches or any special niceties, just fair treatment.
One worker named Hosea, a skycap for over 30 years, talked about how his hard work and his loyalty to the airport has not made a difference in how he is treated. At the front of the room, speaking into a microphone and sweeping his eyes across the crowd, he described his work and the lack of respect he felt from his managers. In the last few years, his work hours have been cut from 6 hours to just 4 hours a day.
Another worker talked about how the port was cutting hours while hiring new people. She didn’t understand how they could do that – as most of the people in the airport have families to support. She talked about her three children and how her job working concessions is the only thing keeping them from becoming homeless.
In the crowd, a woman yelled out that she didn’t know why she wasn’t working. In the past year, she has applied to over 10 different positions for which she is qualified and has not heard any response. She wants to work, she is making an effort to work, and she still can’t get work.
The elected officials, Port Commissioners and City Council members, listened. They shook their heads when a speaker talked about her hours being cut and her time off being sporadic and unpredictable. They nodded when workers talked about how they could not plan for the future with so little job security. They heard what the airport workers were going through, they were respectful and they were sympathetic.
Port Commissioner Rob Holland spoke up, thanking everyone and sharing his own story about how his father worked his whole life on the docks at the Port of Seattle. Commissioner Holland said that when he was elected, it felt like he was coming back home. He understood the concerns that workers were sharing, because he lived through many of the same challenges. Commissioner Holland also acknowledged that when he was growing up, things were better – his family was able to make it on his father’s salary. He promised to do whatever he could for today’s airport workers, to change things for the better.
At the end of the meeting, Working Washington proposed a pledge of workers’ rights, including the right to full time work, job security, to unionize without fear of reprisal, and to basic respect for the loyalty and service that workers show everyday to the port.
Every elected official present signed the pledge, with great cheers from the crowd.
Metro Buses: Riders ask council to keep service for the city
The people of King County proved one thing on Tuesday, July 12, we care about our transit. The King County Council is in the middle of a budget crisis, and they've put our buses and transit on the chopping block. The Council has put forward two options: either cut bus service or raise revenue with a $20 car tab fee. Bus service is an issue for Working Washington because we know that you can't get a job if you can't get to a job. Public transit is an essential driver of our economy, and Metro's promise to "get you there" only works if "there" includes the whole city.
The proposed cuts would slash 17% of our bus service, leaving people stranded all across King County, unless a $20 dollar “congestion” fee is added to our yearly car tabs. Hundreds gathered to protest these cuts, the line to attend the hearing ran down Third Avenue and up Yesler Avenue. So many people demanded to speak out that the council had to open up overflow rooms.
Over 280 people signed up to testify, and estimates of the total number of attendees run as high as 500. Community members spoke of their reliance on transit for work, shopping and simply getting around the city. People asked the council how they would get to their jobs, their schools, their doctors appointments without regular bus service. The majority of people asked the council to pass the car fee and keep bus service for all of Seattle.
While Metro service fares doubled (from $1.00 to $2.00) between 2000 and 2010, money from fares is not enough to cover the costs of operating the system.
Many Working Washington members have no options other than public transit. Many people with disabilities spoke about how they could not drive cars because of physical problems and about how safe and reliable mass transit was their ticket to independence.
Community organizations such as the Asian Counseling and Referral Service, Puget Sound Sage and El Centro de La Raza testified with their members and spoke about the disproportionate disruption of service in communities of color and areas where many working class people live.
The Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Seattle Association and the Washington State Labor Council all supported the car fee measure. They reminded the Council that transportation options are an economic necessity and a driver of economic vitality. They urged the council to pass the $20 car tab fee and keep buses running for all of Seattle. One representative of the Labor Council joked, “Hey when you got Big Business and Big Labor agreeing on something, ya gotta do it. I mean come on.”
One speaker talked about Metro route 71, one of the routes that could be eliminated, as a vital part of connecting his community. He talked about how he has ridden route 71 since he was born and how he learned his neighborhood and his neighbors by standing at the stop and looking out the windows. He knew everyone on the bus, he said, and they cared for each other. “When I look outside and see the 71, things just get better,” he said. “I can breathe again.”
Congresswoman Baldwin -"Thank you for not being a spectator."
Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin visited Wisconsin's 8th Senate District this weekend, rallying over 125 canvass volunteers at both We Are Wisconsin offices in the district to Get Out The Vote ahead of the fake primary election engineered by Republican dirty tricks for July 12th. Our GOTV efforts were a smashing success, as Sandy Pasch trounced her fake Democratic opponent to set up a general election showdown against entrenched politician Alberta Darling.
“The country and the world are watching Wisconsin right now,” Baldwin told the packed room, “This is the key fight, and you’re a part of it. Thank you for not being a spectator.”
Read the entire story here: We Are Wisconsin
Speak out for good jobs
Unemployment is through the roof. Washington families are struggling to make ends meet. So why is Washington DC focused on the deficit instead of on creating good jobs?
We don't know either.
That's why progressive Members of Congress set out on a nationwide bus tour -- to change the debate back to the need for good jobs now.
Will you join us at noon on Saturday, July 23rd, to show Congress that our communities want to talk about jobs?
RSVP here and speak out for good jobs now.
You are crucial to making this event a success. With you and people like you filling the room, we can show Congress that jobs are our top priority - and that jobs should be Congress' top priority too.
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.