Who We Are - Silvia V.

My name is Silvia, and I moved all the way from Rhode Island to Washington because I wanted a fresh start and a better life for my two children. When I came to Washington, I was lucky enough to find work as a cook with a food truck in Renton. I like the work, I work hard and I am always putting in more and more hours so that I can try to get ahead. I want to advance in my career so I have to put in the long hours. I'm looking for another job to have at night so that I can provide the best for my kids.

I want my kids to have the best education, education is what gives people a chance to succeed. I want my kids to have the chance to do well in a good school, so they will have more choices and a better life when they grow up. Everything that I do, working hard and working long hours, is for my kids.

Education is the key. Education needs to be funded and we need good teachers and good programs. If we can give our children a world class education, we will all be better off.

I’ve talked to my family and friends about how we need more fairness, opportunity and education in order to have a chance to succeed.  Working Washington is helping us fight for fairness, and I'm so excited to be a part of it.

Who We Are -- Michael H.

I’m a retired general contractor, journeyman, salesman, a jack of all trade and I’ve lived up and down this whole country.  Now I'm staying with my wife, daughter and two grandkids here in Auburn. My wife and I are both in our 70's and my retirement check has been cut. My wife is on disability and we’re having a hard time paying the bills.  We’re living on a fixed income and the prices have gone up. My daughter helps us out as much as she can, even though she’s working and going to school and raising her two kids. I'm proud of her. She got onto the Dean’s List in college and we try to help her out with childcare, 'cause that’s what grandparents do.

My friends and family are barely making it. We are doing everything we can to help each other, but it's still not enough. I've been through hard times in my life and it's always gotten better because I've fought for it to get better. I know I have to fight now for a better future for my grandkids.

I have to because I’ve still got some living to do.  I got some people to look after.

Who We Are -- Chris M.

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.”

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.