RALLY TO PROTECT CIVIL SERVICE WORKERS: BRING DOWN TRUMP, THE BILLIONAIRES, & THEIR TWO PARTIES!

The following is a transcript of a speech given by healthcare worker and Workers Strike Back member Grey Martin who spoke at the Rally to Save the Civil Service in Seattle on February 10th, 2025 on why workers need to go on the offensive against these anti-worker attacks from the the billionaire Trump Administration.

Hello Seattle:

My name is Grey Martin, I am a queer, Black, healthcare worker, I work at the state level, and I serve my community! 

Trump and Musk’s cuts to government agencies and programs including the 10,000 Federal Workers who were fired on Friday is a shame. 

In addition to the roughly 75,000 workers who have taken a buyout that Trump and Musk have offered to get them to leave voluntarily equals about 3% of the 2.3 (million) person Civilian workforce, this is shameful! 

This isnt about targeting fraud or waste — its an attack on workers and the meager protections that workers have including sweeping cuts to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as well as cuts to the centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

I work in healthcare, I see you every week. And Medicare and Medicaid is an essential service to our community for the elderly and for low income families for those who are not born into wealth like Trump and Musk. 

No, these services are necessary for millions of Americans and residents who rely on these programs for life saving healthcare and we need to fight back to protect these services. 

It is the workers who keep the economy and the government running. 

It is workers whose power lie in being organized and willing to strike, to withhold their labor. 

It was the threat of strike action from flight attendants and air traffic controllers that ended Trump’s government shutdown in 2019. 

And again federal workers can stop Trumps anti-worker attacks and fight for more including real raises to make up for years of massive inflation. 

In 2019 during Trumps government shutdown, unionized air traffic controllers and flight attendants threatened strike action that forced Trump to end the shutdown within hours of the strike being called. 

It is great to see so many of my community here today, but we need go on the offensive to with a fighting strategy for what workers need. That includes a renewed fight for Medicare for All, as well as ballot initiatives for public healthcare at the local and state levels. Coordinated strike action is needed that can disrupt business as usual. 

This is not usual what is happening in our country and we need to come together as the workers of this country to fight for what we need. 

Just like how Seattle won the highest minimum wage in the country, just like how we won these renter protections that the Democrats in city council are trying to take back. 

WE make this city great. WE make this country great.

Im here today not only as a member of your community, but as a member of Workers Strike Back. We are hosting a massive organizing conference this Saturday here in Seattle and over livestream. We are launching a nationwide campaign to Fight the Rich and their two parties, to fight for Medicare for All, to fight for a $25 minimum wage, when we can barley afford the cost of living in our country. 

So I call upon you to join us….to Fight the Rich, to fight Trump, to fight Musk, and what the rich are doing to us. 

Solidarity Seattle thank you!