Union members WIN Workers Strike Back resolution to defend minimum wage victory - MODEL RESOLUTION

As Seattle Democrats prepare another attack on our historic minimum wage victory, the labor movement needs to wage a determined fight to defend it.

Workers Strike Back members and other rank-and-file union members successfully won a version of the below resolution in WFSE Local 889, a union of social service workers in Seattle, WA.

Resolution to defend worker and renter rights from attacks by Seattle City Council:

WHEREAS: Ten years ago in 2014, Seattle became the first major city to win the historic $15/hour minimum wage. With inflation adjustment, Seattle’s minimum wage is now at nearly $20/hour, making it the nation’s highest major-city minimum wage. This unprecedented victory was made possible by a united coalition of the labor movement, working people, socialists, and the 15 NOW movement, led by socialist Councilmember Kshama Sawant;

AND WHEREAS: This sparked movements for a $15/hour minimum wage across the country, which led to gains at city and state levels in a breakthrough for low-paid workers, benefiting tens of millions of workers nationwide; 

AND WHEREAS: At the time, big business won a phase-in period of ten years for businesses with 500 or fewer employees, who have received a lower-tier minimum wage. This corporate loophole was opposed by the 15 NOW movement, which advocated for raising all workers’ wages at the same rate, and tax big businesses like Amazon to subsidize small businesses who needed support;

AND WHEREAS: In July, current City Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth brought forward a bill that would permanently enshrine the lower tier wages. If this bill, or a similar bill, is allowed to pass, it would be a continuation of the divisive corporate assault on working-class living standards. The creation of two-tier wage scales has been a scourge to the labor movement that workers at UPS, the Big Three automakers, and elsewhere have fought to end, including by waging historic strike action;

AND WHEREAS: The original $15 minimum wage was won by a united coalition, and the current bill was rescinded by Councilmember Hollingsworth only because of public pressure from Workers Strike Back, Restaurant Workers United, rank-and-file labor union members, and former Councilmember Kshama Sawant;  

AND WHEREAS: If Seattle City Council truly wanted to protect small businesses, they would have passed commercial rent control in Washington, which was brought forward by Councilmember Sawant in 2023, but was voted down by the City Council;

AND WHEREAS: Working-class solidarity is a founding principle of the labor movement, as our banners proudly declare: An Injury To One Is An Injury To All;

AND WHEREAS: It is imperative that the labor movement celebrate the defeat of this bill, and also be fully aware that it will not be the last attack on working people. Councilmember Hollingsworth has only temporarily withdrawn the bill, and has said she will seek a “new approach” on the legislation. City Council Democrats will return with attacks on the minimum wage as well as other workers’ and renters’ rights; 

AND WHEREAS: Workers and the labor movement cannot allow big business and corporate landlords to carry out any attack on the minimum wage or on other crucial gains won by Seattle’s working people. Current City Councilmembers have already vowed to go after renters’ rights laws won over the last decade, including the winter and school-year eviction moratoriums, which Seattle unions helped fight to win and which we must fight to defend;

AND WHEREAS: Councilmember Hollingsworth, the sponsor of the withdrawn bill, and most other City Councilmembers, were endorsed by the Martin Luther King, Jr. County Labor Council in the 2023 City Council election, and also received financial donations from labor unions, and the labor movement needs to hold elected officials accountable to working people.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: __________ will stand in solidarity with minimum-wage workers and oppose any future attacks on our minimum wage;

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: __________ will call on the City Council to stop their attacks on renters and working people, knowing that a loss of any of these protections would be devastating for ____________ members in Seattle as well as the families that we serve in Child Welfare, and our union will make clear that any Councilmember who supports attacks on workers needs to face political consequences from the labor movement. 

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: ___________ will join former Seattle Councilmember Kshama Sawant and Workers Strike Back at an organizing conference on Wednesday, August 28th, 2024, at 6:00PM at the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church at 124 21st Ave, in Seattle’s Central District, to get organized and prepare to defend against future attacks on the minimum wage, and other workers’ and renters’ rights.

AND BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:  _________ will join other working people in rallying and organizing against any future attacks on the minimum wage, and will mobilize our members to such actions through email, social media, announcements at meetings, and other union communication.

Are you in a union? Want to propose this resolution to your fellow union members? Contact us now at solidarity@workersstrikeback.org!