Solidarity with the 3,500 striking Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) workers, whose wages have not gone up in years and are justly demanding substantial wage increases and better healthcare terms. The MTA has forced their workforce to work for three years without a contract and without any wage increase. This is absolutely shameful. Every single worker deserves a dignified, stable and secure life.

For three weeks in late September and early October, rank and file union carpenters in Seattle were at the sharpest point of class struggle in the American labor movement. After rejecting four tentative agreements where their leadership pushed hard for a “yes” vote, an embattled membership took bold, independent initiative. While the demands of carpenters for $15 per hour increase over a 3 year contract, paid parking, and fully funded benefits went largely unaddressed, through militant rank and file organization and action, carpenters won increases that will add up to over $100,000 dollars over the course of their careers.

There are many important lessons from this struggle that apply not only to an increasingly dissatisfied construction workforce, but to millions of workers and youth looking to organized labor and the workplace as an important battleground to fight back against low pay, long hours, and terrible conditions.

This statement was originally published from the office of Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant on March 7th, 2014.  It is about their work with custodians at Harborview Medical Center who had been experiencing discrimination and harassment from their managers. For more background, check out this Seattle Times article.

Tuesday night the courageous stand by Harborview custodians paid off when they signed an agreement with Harborview’s upper management resolving several concerns. Previously the mainly immigrant custodians had complained of suffering  discrimination  and harassment from their managers, and had been denied a $1/hour Infection Control Premium pay raise for failing an English test. Rather than suffering silently, however, the custodians heroically organized themselves to stand up for their rights.

On August 8, 2015, Councilmember Kshama Sawant celebrated the 70th anniversary of Social Security and Medicare at Westlake Park, alongside US Senator Bernie Sanders, State Senator Pramila Jayapal and others. Sawant highlighted the lessons from the historic struggle that won these essential programs and discussed how it applies to today’s movements for economic and racial justice.

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Tech Workers for Kshama national meeting. The energy was incredible, and we're just getting started. During our discussion, one tech worker asked a question that I think is on every tech worker's mind right now: how do we fight against the mass layoffs happening in the tech sector?

Barely 24 hours after our meeting, we saw exactly why this matters: on March 31st, between 20,000 and 30,000 Oracle workers, roughly 18% of the company's global workforce, woke up to a cold five-line email from "Oracle Leadership" at 6am. No phone call. No meeting with HR. No warning from their managers. Just a message telling them their roles had been eliminated, that today was their last working day, and that their access to company systems had already been cut.

Retaliation by the bosses at tech company Kickstarter against striking workers is a reminder of why workers need to go on the offensive to fight back

Solidarity with the 15,000 New York City nurses at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, the Montefiore Medical Center, and the Mount Sinai Hospital, who have launched the city’s largest-ever nurses’ strike. 

Western Washington state has been hit by catastrophic floods stemming from swollen rivers due to back-to-back atmospheric river events. Multiple cities and counties, including the cities of Tukwila, Renton, and Kent in King County in the Ninth Congressional District, have been affected. 

My campaign for the U.S. Congress is demanding FULL FUNDING for comprehensive disaster relief for all working people affected by the flooding, paid for by taxing the wealthy in Washington state. 

Members of the Limestone Federation of Teachers are facing major increases to healthcare premiums. This comes on top of already high insurance premiums for workers.

Stand with Limestone teachers and staff! Sign the petition now!