Tag Archives: Labor Rights

News

Local Grocery Store Workers Protest Kroger-Albertsons Merger

by Ronnie Estoque

Sam Dancy has worked at the QFC in Westwood Village since the store opened in 1991. He is also a shop steward for UFCW 3000 and was involved in advocacy efforts on behalf of the union for grocery store worker hazard pay during the early part of the pandemic. Dancy, alongside other representatives of UFCW 3000 and other unions across various states, is currently protesting the possible merger between Kroger and Albertsons, which was announced last month.

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News

KUOW Journalists Picket for a New Contract

by Ronnie Estoque

On Monday afternoon, Oct. 24, KUOW’s unionized staff held an informational picket outside the KUOW studios, emphasizing the importance of livable wages for all KUOW positions in a new contract. The action received a large response via social media from KUOW listeners vocally expressing their own support. The KUOW union is represented by SAG-AFTRA, which represents approximately 160,000 media and entertainment professionals.

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News

Historic Agreement Reached for Seattle Children’s Nurses

by Jasmine M. Pulido

On Monday, Sept. 5, a historic contract went into effect for the 1,700-person nursing team at Seattle Children’s Hospital (SCH). After 12 bargaining sessions, a 1,200+-person picket line outside the hospital, and three mediation sessions over five months, the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) and SCH finally reached an agreement.

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Features

Hailed As Rideshare Driver Victory, New Law Lets Uber and Lyft Limit Labor Rights

by Tushar Khurana

On March 4, a labor law concerning rideshare drivers successfully passed through the Washington State Legislature and made its way to the governor’s desk. The Drivers Union, a ride-hailing drivers association affiliated with the Teamsters Local 117 labor union that lobbied heavily for the bill, called it an unprecedented victory that “secures the highest labor standards for Lyft and Uber drivers … including a statewide minimum wage for drivers, paid sick leave, workers’ compensation benefits, and protection against unfair termination.”

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News

NEWS GLEAMS: First PayUp Legislation Passes City Council, New ORCA System, & More

curated by Emerald Editors

A round-up of news and announcements we don’t want to get lost in the fast-churning news cycle!

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Community

Lara De La Rosa Is Reimagining Entrepreneurship at Lazy Cow Bakery

by Emma Lower

“I love to bake … but I didn’t open the business to be a baker,” says Lara de la Rosa, the 23-year-old head pastry chef at the vegan Lazy Cow Bakery in Fremont. 

Instead, de la Rosa is a theorist putting her vision of a worker-owned, woman- and Latinx-centered world into practice. Lazy Cow doubles as a mutual-aid organization and Latinx cultural center called La Casa del Xoloitzcuintle. Perhaps it’s the vegan raspberry almond croissant she has already offered me, or the red roses on her kitchen table, her anecdotal humor and light laugh, but she has the distinct aesthetic of being fully alive.

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News

Seattle and Skagit Communities Commemorate May Day

by Guy Oron

(This article originally appeared on Real Change and has been reprinted under an agreement.)

Across Skagit County and Seattle, hundreds of workers and their families marched and celebrated International Workers Day, popularly known as May Day. Organizers highlighted the struggle for better wages and conditions as well as a variety of other progressive causes.

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Voices

OPINION: There Are No Shortcuts

by Rosalinda Aguirre

I come from two generations of Mexican immigrants who picked cotton, harvested hops and beets, and labored on the rail lines throughout the country. Through my parents’ work, I met men and women who toiled day after day in the fields for minimal wages and without health care. It was one of my first introductions to social inequality.

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News

Landmark Seattle Proposal Would Guarantee Gig Workers a Minimum Wage

by Ben Adlin

App-based gig workers in Seattle would earn at least minimum wage plus expenses under a proposal expected to be officially introduced in the City Council next month. 

The legislation, still in draft form, would put Seattle at the national forefront of protecting app-based workers who deliver groceries and packages, walk dogs, pick up restaurant orders, and perform various other tasks. It would also regulate the companies that contract their labor, such as Amazon, Instacart, DoorDash, Handy, UberEats, Shipt, and others.

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News

Storyville Coffee Workers Are Unionizing to Fight for Better Pay

by Guy Oron

Storyville Coffee baristas and bakers filed a petition to unionize on Feb. 17. If successful, the new union would represent a total of 14 workers at two locations: Pike Place Market and Queen Anne. In a public statement, the workers expressed their wishes to collectively negotiate a contract which would ensure a livable wage.

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