We're two months into 2018. The groundhog saw its shadow, you have to check if the mountain passes are going to be closed for snow, and we're sharing what we've accomplished so far:
Paid sick time became law the first day of 2018. Under the new law, all hourly workers in Washington get 1 hour of sick time for every 40 hours worked — about 6 days a year if you work full-time. And the law says you have a right to use your sick time if you're sick, for a medical appointment, or to care for a sick family member. Is this all new information? Are you worried that you and your coworkers aren't getting the rights you are entitled to?
"Baristas did it, not tax cuts."
Around this time last year, Starbucks announced a wildly inequitable parental leave policy which provided that store employees would get dramatically less parental leave than corporate employees, and baristas who aren’t birth mothers wouldn’t get any paid leave at all.
In response, petitions sprouted up across the country — including a Working Washington effort to try and get the corporate PR department to explain how they can justify a policy that seems to say the children of baristas and hourly workers are less important than those born to corporate employees.
After a year-long campaign, thousands of petition signatures, and a pretty outlandish action outside a shareholders meeting, Starbucks says they’re making the change…because of tax cuts.
But we know better. The real credit goes to the baristas with Working Washington and other organizations across the country who led the way, the customers who spoke out in support, and organizations like PL+US who kept on organizing, pushing for change, and making it all happen.
Misleading minimum wage surcharges could soon be a thing of the past. Working Washington sent an official request to the State Department of Labor & Industries calling on the agency to establish rules that would effectively eliminate misleading surcharges which pose as taxes or claim to go towards wages. Paying the minimum wage is a basic cost of doing business, not an extra add-on to be counted separately. If there’s no line item for the rent and no napkin-laundering charge called out, then there’s no good reason to tack on an extra few percent and attribute it to the minimum wage — unless you're trying to send a political message about opposition to raising the wage, that is.
Does this look legal to you?
A global technology company called Pactera is advertising for jobs based in Redmond...only for US Native candidates.
Working Washington members applied for the job through Indeed.com, and told Pactera exactly what they thought about their discriminatory hiring practices. Due to a flood of angry "applicants" and some pretty intense pressure via social media, the post was eventually removed. It seems like someone never told them that they can't discriminate at work!
Surely they can't be serious...
It only took Alaska Airlines and friends just one month to decide that they didn't want to follow the paid sick law. They say it's just too hard for huge, multi-billion dollar corporations who manage international air travel logistics to bear the "burden" of letting their flight crew take their earned sick days, (just like it was too tough to pay workers $15 an hour,) so they're suing the state. Check out the video below to see the details and hear what we had to say about it (our statement shows up around 1:35 if you want to skip to the good part.)
Politics 101
Working Washington members gathered at our downtown Seattle office (And even more joined via our online live stream) for our first ever Politics 101 training. We talked about current worker issues in politics, the importance of self-advocacy, and several leaders led talks about issues they care about, including the need for portable benefits and how to best contact your legislators.
Working Washington member Michael W. gave a talk about the 'Ban the Box' legislation that is moving through the state legislature. Here's a glimpse of his story: "'I'm a worker and the ban the box legislation is important to me because I have been obstructed from pursuing living wage jobs. I have made mistakes in my life and I've taken responsibility for those missteps and struggles and I have paid my debt to society as assigned by the courts. Ban the Box allows prospective employees a chance to meet an employer before getting a background check done. By allowing an applicant to go into the hiring pool without the biases that come with a criminal record, we will allow people an opportunity to be seen as a worker and not a conviction."
"Giving people that chance opens the door to living wage jobs that help build communities and help families gain financial security, which makes neighborhoods safer and grows the economy." -Michael W., Working Washington member
Nannies & housecleaners launched the Seattle Domestic Workers Alliance in December, and they're already winning powerful allies in support of their campaign for a domestic workers bill of rights: Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan recently stated that she wanted to make this bill's passage a priority in her state of the city address.
"In the long term, I hope to have benefits like any other worker. I would like to have the same opportunities. All of our work matters!" -Maricela O., a house cleaner working in Seattle
And we're just getting started.
We've accomplished a lot, and you can be a part of it. Sign up here to become a Working Washington member today!
Help us spread the word! We're building a movement--let your friends know so they can join you.