On the night of August 20th, while Barack Obama gave remarks on the second night of the DNC, Workers Strike Back hosted a rally at Grace Church in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago around the slogan “Disrupt the DNC.” More than 200 working-class people from across the country gathered in-person, and more than 150,000 tuned in online to discuss a way forward for the antiwar movement and a strategy for the working class heading into November and beyond.

◊ End the genocidal war on Gaza, the occupation, and all U.S. military aid to the Israeli state!

◊ Fully fund Medicare for All including gender-affirming care & abortion, and massively invest in high quality affordable housing for working people!

◊ Unions should call for a national one-day strike and walk-out of students and workers and build for a mass nationally coordinated protest against the genocide!

◊ No to Harris and Trump - build for the largest possible vote for Left antiwar pro-worker candidate Jill Stein, as a step towards a new antiwar party for the working class!

From the war on Gaza to the deep cost of living crisis facing working people, the stakes of this election could not be higher. Contrary to the mainstream media outlets portraying the choice in this election as between a “Marxist” and a “fascist,” both Harris and Trump are warmongering representatives of the billionaire class.

Democrats and big business have made it clear they aren’t done trying to undermine Seattle’s hard-won, highest-in-the-nation minimum wage (currently at nearly $20/hour), despite the brutal ongoing housing affordability and cost of living crisis. We cannot let the City Council get away with any attack on our minimum wage victory!

If you are a rank-and-file union member, please consider putting this updated resolution forward in your union, as WFSE Local 889 members have already successfully done, and help us fight back!

Democrats and big business have made it clear they aren’t done trying to undermine Seattle’s hard-won, highest-in-the-nation minimum wage (currently at nearly $20/hour), despite the brutal ongoing housing affordability and cost of living crisis. We cannot let the City Council get away with any attack on our minimum wage victory!

If you are a rank-and-file union member, please consider putting this updated resolution forward in your union, as WFSE Local 889 members have already successfully done, and help us fight back!

The following is a transcript of a speech given by socialist & former Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant on August 20, 2024 at a Workers Strike Back protest at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago alongside Left independent antiwar Presidential candidate Jill Stein, which was attended by more than 200 working people in person, with more than 140,000 viewing online.

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.

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.

What arethe lessons from this victory?

The Seattle City Council is considering legislation from District 3 Democratic Party Councilmember Hollingsworth to make a lower-tier minimum wage permanent, robbing over 200,000 workers of their right to the full minimum wage. We cannot let the City Council get away with this because this won’t be the last attack. The labor movement needs to fight to defend the gains we have won in wages, renters’ rights, and taxes on big business.

If you are a rank-and-file union member, please consider putting this resolution forward in your union, and help us fight back! Contact Workers Strike Back for more information.

On Sunday, July 21, Workers Strike Back held its Inaugural National Zoom Conference, attended by more than 300 working people from around the country, to discuss the path forward to end the genocidal war on Gaza–including the crucial question of what working people should do during this year’s Presidential election to oppose the warmongers in the Democratic and Republican Parties.