Union members urge councilmember Mosqueda to publicly push for rent control
By Seattle union members. Published July 17, 2023
Seattle Workers Strike Back activists, alongside working-class renters and union members, are fighting to win the strong citywide rent control legislation that has been brought forward by socialist City Councilmember and Workers Strike Back activist Kshama Sawant. Seattle rents have skyrocketed for over a decade, and rent control is urgently needed in our city. Rent control is also extremely popular, not only in Seattle, but statewide, with the support of 71 percent of Washington voters. Yet, not one of the eight Democrats on the Seattle City Council has to date spoken in support of Councilmember Sawant’s legislation This past Monday, WSB activists who are members of ten different labor unions delivered a printed letter from fifteen rank-and-file union members calling on Councilmember and self-described progressive and labor Democrat Teresa Mosqueda to publicly state that she will vote yes on our rent control legislation with no delays and no watering down.
Dear Councilmember Mosqueda,
Will you publicly commit to voting YES for Councilmember Kshama Sawant’s rent control bill, with no delays or attempts to water it down? Will you declare your support for union members, working-class and low-income renters, and communities of color, and stand against the greedy corporate real estate barons? Will you publicly urge all Democrats, including Councilmember Lewis, to do the same?
Many of us spoke at last Wednesday’s Rent Control Public Hearing at the City Council Sustainability and Renters’ Rights Committee meeting chaired by Councilmember Sawant. We heard nearly a hundred of our fellow renters and union members urge you and Councilmembers Lewis, Herbold, and Morales to act now and pass the rent control legislation with no corporate loopholes. We also heard about the obscene profits being made by wealthy, corporate landlords by exploiting renters like us, and the scandalous price-fixing scheme they are engaged in, as alleged by lawsuits, to further fleece their working-class tenants.
We are, frankly, disappointed that we haven’t heard you speak out yet in support of this bill. You have now had several weeks to review Councilmember Sawant’s legislation.
Seattle rents nearly doubled between 2010 and 2020. Councilmember Sawant’s legislation, which has the support from over 35,000 Seattleites who have signed public petitions, would apply to all rental homes and limit rent increases to the annual inflation rate. It is a trigger law, and would go into effect as soon as the state ban on rent control is lifted.
As a prominent leader of the Democratic Party in Seattle, we believe you have an important role in pushing back against the decades-long failure of Democratic politicians in Olympia to lift the unjust ban on rent control, and building pressure on the State Legislature by helping union rank and file to win this trigger law.
Many of us union members are either chronically rent-burdened, or have been pushed out of the city altogether. Construction workers, our community’s actual housing providers, are increasingly unable to live in the very city they work everyday to build. Seattle Education Association members often expressed anxiety about unaffordable rents at their strike picket lines both last year and back in 2015. Grocery workers, members of UFCW 3000, have been struggling to pay rent, especially after the City Council repealed our pandemic hazard pay. Many PCC and Safeway workers are forced to live with roommates to be able to pay rent, and yet many of us remain rent-burdened.
Out of 1,300 UAW 4121 members who filled out a recent housing survey, a shocking 80 percent are rent-burdened and 22 percent reported experiencing homelessness while at UW. A Research Scientist at UW and long-time renter in Seattle shared that she has “experienced firsthand seeing [her] rent increase to unaffordable levels,” and thinks it’s “unacceptable that so many people are a few paychecks away from homelessness, while landlords are still making profits… PLEASE SHOW UP for the working people who are backing your election campaign, and know that this would be helpful for the majority of people who rent in Seattle.”
Our unions have previously endorsed your election campaigns on the basis that you would represent the interests of renters and workers, not corporate landlords and big business. You are again appealing to the labor movement for assistance this year in your election campaign for King County Council. You’ve heard the overwhelming support for rent control from renters, students, union members, and the working people of Seattle. So, we urge you to publicly voice your support for Councilmember Sawant’s strong rent control legislation, and help us win the legislation by advocating that all Democrats vote yes.
Sincerely,
Julia Kobelt, UW Research Scientist, D6 renter, UAW 4121
Dominic Sivitilli, UW Academic Student Employee, D6 renter, UAW 4121
Elias Lilleskov, UW Academic Student Employee, D6 renter, UAW 4121
Nancy Hom, UW Research Scientist, D4 renter, UAW 4121
Joe Sugrue, Music Teacher, D4 renter, Northshore Education Association
Jordan Young, PCC Grocery Worker, D4 renter, UFCW 3000
Madeline Olson, Grocery Worker, D6 renter, UFCW 3000
Colin Moen, Apprentice Electrician, D2 renter, IBEW 46
Logan Swan, Journeyman Ironworker and Casual Longshoreman, D2 renter, Iron Workers 86, ILWU 19
Barbara Phinney, D5 homeowner, Delegate to MLK Labor for AFGE Local 3197*
Jozi Uebelhoer, DCYF Social Worker, D3 renter, WFSE 889
Jonathan Rosenblum, D2 homeowner, National Writers Union
Matthew Maley, Special Education teacher, Seattle Education Association
Nick Jones, UPS Driver, D2 renter, Teamsters 174
Rose Hiemstra, Music Teacher, D5 renter, Northshore Education Association
*AFGE 3197 endorses Seattle Rent Control without loopholes
