Seattle Teachers Prepare to Strike Tomorrow, Wednesday!

There was no shortage of Seattle area workers raising their voices Labor Day weekend at Starbucks, Homegrown, and Kent schools! The strikes keep coming, and the solidarity keeps rolling!

Now the Seattle Education Association voted to authorize a strike by an overwhelming margin of 95% to 5% with a massive voter turnout of 75%!  6,000 Seattle educators are preparing to strike tomorrow, delaying the start of the school year, boosting the impact of the Kent schools strike.

Some Reasons Why Educators Are Preparing to Strike
The Seattle school district is proposing to:

    - Cut multilingual supports and special education when we need to increase investments
    - Control when workers can take paid time off
    - Cut teachers salaries -- The proposed "raises" won't keep up with inflation!

The overwhelming strike authorization vote resulted mainly from the stresses of the pandemic and inflation, combined with the inspiration of labor victories at Starbucks, Amazon, and other companies.

Rank-and-file members of the Seattle Education Association (SEA) proposed an amendment to the strike resolution to ensure that a strike will not end until the full union membership ratifies a tentative agreement between the school district and union leadership.  The amendment passed by 2/3 of the SEA membership meeting, demonstrating educators' determination to win the contract that they and their students need.

Pickets will be set up at every school tomorrow, Wednesday, across the district from 7:30am to 3:30pm.  Community members are strongly encouraged by SEA and DSA to show up to support a picket line at a school near you. (Bring water or food if possible.) In addition to providing solidarity at picket lines tomorrow, we hope to organize DSA members to go to picket lines together to provide food and support this Friday.

Note: if SEA and SPS happen to reach a tentative agreement tonight, a full-on strike may not materialize.

RSVP for the DSA General Membership Meeting

Google Workers Say "No Tech for Apartheid!"

For over a year, Google employees have been organizing against the company’s $1 billion contract with the Israeli apartheid government that helps them surveil Palestinians and inflict violence on those under their occupation. Workers are calling for a rally this Thurs, Sep 8th, at 5PM in SLU!  Seattle DSA supports and advocates for workers’ rights to organize and supports and answers Palestinian civil society’s call for the Boycott, Sanction, and Divestment of companies and organizations complicit in the State of Israel’s crimes of apartheid and genocide.

Did you participate in Stephanie Gallardo's campaign or do you live in South King County?  DSA has officially launched its South King County Organizing Committee!  We are hosting our first kickoff meeting on Sunday, September 11th at 6:00 PM at Renton Liberty Park.  We will discuss the various campaigns that require our support whether it is Washington State's Universal Healthcare Initiative, Tukwila Raise the Wage Initiative, or expanding Starbucks unionization efforts in South King County. Food, drink, good music and good vibes provided!  Please RSVP today to help us ensure we have enough goodies for everyone.  

Seattle DSA has endorsed the Raise The Wage Tukwila ballot initiative, spearheaded by Transit Riders Union (TRU), which will be on the ballot in Tukwila this November.  TRU is launching their voter outreach campaign with a canvass this Saturday!  DSA will be actively supporting this campaign and using it to continue rebuilding our presence in south King County.  We encourage all DSA members, especially those from south King County cities, to get active with this campaign.  RSVP today.
Saturday, September 10th at 1:00 PM

14350 Tukwila International Blvd, Tukwila, WA 98168

Join Seattle DSA for a 3rd discussion on the proposal for our chapter to hire 2 part-time organizers.  The proposal is for the organizers to help with 3 priorities:

1. Strengthen DSA’s public and media communications (including trying to develop a Seattle Socialist publication)
2. Make it easier for members and supporters to plug into our activist campaigns
3. Get DSA better organized

This resolution has been discussed at 2-3 chapter meetings, Local Council meetings, and individual discussions.  The resolution has been improved after hearing criticism and feedback, and now it will be discussed and debated at this meeting this Thursday, September 8.  The resolution will then be discussed and debated again at the General Membership Meeting next Tuesday, September 13 at 7 pm. Then the chapter will vote over email (Opavote).

In Solidarity,

Ramy Khalil (SEA member writing in a personal capacity for Seattle DSA)

Seattle Democratic Socialists of America