VICTORY: Democrats withdraw their shameful attack on Seattle workers

by Workers Strike Back

Under pressure from Workers Strike Back and Seattle’s working people, Democratic Party City Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth has been forced to WITHDRAW her shameful bill to undermine our historic minimum wage victory. The bill would have created a permanent lower-tier minimum wage for over 200,000 workers in our city, immediately robbing them of at least $3/hour starting in January.

Workers Strike Back, restaurant workers, and union members turned out in force at City Hall to defend the minimum wage victory we won a decade ago after Kshama Sawant first took office in 2014 and launched the 15 NOW movement.

What are the lessons from this victory?

LESSON 1: We won because we used a fighting strategy.

Kshama and other Workers Strike Back members made it clear last Tuesday, at our press conference and during the City Council public comment, that these attacks on working people will have consequences. As Kshama and working people said, "if Hollingsworth wants to have any political future, she should withdraw this bill immediately and apologize to our city’s workers.” Kshama also said, “the Democrat who introduced this bill, and any others who vote YES on it, should be brought down in the next election, whether or not this bill passes. We cannot allow disgraceful attacks on workers like this bill to go unanswered.”

This is what we mean by a fighting strategy. Our movement needs to expose the Democrats and their betrayals of working people to the light of day, and empower our fellow-workers to fight back. Workers Strike Back didn't seek private meetings with Hollingsworth and other Democrats to ask them nicely to not attack working people. We openly organized, mobilized regular working people, and forced the Democrats to back down. We won’t win by trying to negotiate with the Democrats in private. We need to build our own organizations to win what workers need.

LESSON 2: This will NOT be the last attack on the workers’ and renters’ rights victories we won over the last decade.

Make no mistake: we have won an important victory, but big business won’t stop here. Current City Councilmembers have already scandalously vowed to go after our renters’ rights laws won over the last decade, including the winter and school-year eviction moratoriums. And they will come back for our minimum wage in some other form.

Democrats and big business will now go back behind closed doors to prepare their next attack. Our movement needs to respond by getting organized, defending against the establishment’s attacks, and building the fight for more.

BECOME A MEMBER of Workers Strike Back TODAY – help us build a national movement that can fight back, defend ALL our victories, and win, like we just did to defeat this attack on our historic minimum wage victory. Workers need a $25/hour minimum wage, quality affordable housing, and good union jobs for all.

WATCH socialist & former Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant’s speech and call to action from Tuesday’s press conference, where she stood alongside Workers Strike Back members, union members, and other working people to warn City Council Democrats to back off their efforts to undermine our minimum wage.