THE POWER OF COMMUNITY ALLIES

Contract fights can be challenging and isolating. We need the support of our vast and diverse membership, and also the communities where we live. When we get improvements in our jobs and working conditions, we raise the quality of life for ourselves, our families and our communities.

In July, Grocery Store Workers were not alone during their canvasses and informational pickets. Neighbors, church leaders, union leaders, social justice organizations, and many others turned out in solidarity, to add their voices and strength to the people who make their neighborhood grocery stores work everyday. The community allies remembered how these workers set out in snow and ice to ensure that the shelves were stocked and the stores were open through weeks of treacherous weather this past winter.

Community allies marched into the stores armed with ‘This Community Has My Back-One Good Job Should Be Enough’ buttons, taking selfies and letting members know that they were with them in the day to-day struggle for sustainable wages and livable scheduling.

Then community met with the store managers and presented their grocery list: Eggs, Kale, and La Croix were easy to find. However, there were more important items on their list that they couldn’t find in the store: Scheduling We Can Depend On… Wages We Can Live On… A Pension We Can Count On. They asked the managers to listen to the needs of their workers, because they are also the needs of the community.

Community members in Everett, Olympia, Centralia, Walla Walla and Spokane were disheartened when they heard about the looming strike with Providence hospital workers. Elected officials, faith groups and social justice groups have scheduled Community Lunchtime Listening Sessions in these hospitals to hear directly from health care workers about the critical issues causing them to vote for a strike.

The Providence health care workers will also be going to City Council meetings to talk to elected leaders about how Providence putting their profits before patients is a community crisis. Short staffing is one of the major concerns for Providence health care workers: “We need safe staffing levels to provide the highest quality of care for our patients.” Many local businesses and labor groups have shown their support by posting signs that say ‘Providence Hospital Workers Demand Patients Before Profits.’ At this time it is still unknown whether a strike will happen, but what we do know is the community is with us.

All of these actions, throughout Washington State, unite workers and their community. Together we advocate for good contracts now, and a future where all workers get what they need to thrive.