On the finish of a really making an attempt yr, throughout the darkish days of December, I’m honored to announce that, sure, some good issues occurred for native employees in 2024. Here’s a rundown of these Conquests. (This checklist just isn’t complete, so please don’t @ me!)
Let’s get into it.
Shiny New Contracts Had been Received
In maybe the labor occasion of the yr, Boeing machinists, fed up with years of low pay, went on strike for over 50 days and received a giant compounded pay enhance of 43.65 %. We is not going to talk about what has occurred since (it rhymes with “playoffs”).
The Seattle Artwork Museum Customer Providers Workplace struck for 12 days and reportedly earned themselves a brand new contract with round $2/hour will increase in addition to assured 4 % annual raises in 2025-2027. Congrats to them for prevailing after a years-long battle.
Electricians represented by the IBEW 46 went on strike for over 10 weeks and got here away with a greater compensation package deal headlined by a $12.50 increase to their hourly wages.
And manner again in January, WSU Educational Pupil Staff received HUGE pay will increase solely hours into their strike. We’re speaking as much as a 91 % pay bump over the lifetime of the contract for some employees. As a Husky, I refuse to say “Go Cougs,” however “go” these “Cougs.”
Just a few months later, UW grad college students organized and received themselves a elevate of 36% over the subsequent three years. Bow Down!
Employees Bought Their Dang Cash Again
As a result of I respect your time, listed below are solely essentially the most main class-action, Workplace of Labor Requirements, and L&I instances that returned cash to native employees from their (allegedly) thieving employers.
- Windfall Well being & Providers paid out a whopping $200 MILLION DOLLARS to over 33,000 present and former workers after being caught willfully (not by accident) rounding down their hours.
- Chipotle, house of the Slop Bowl™, allegedly violated the Safe Scheduling and Paid Sick and Secure Time Ordinances an astonishing quantity of instances, and was pressured to return practically $2.9 MILLION DOLLARS to 1,853 workers.
- Round 300 present and former employees at Canlis acquired a complete of $1.45 MILLION DOLLARS in again pay from the tremendous eating restaurant in a class-action settlement after the corporate allegedly charged patrons a compulsory 20 % service price that they claimed went to employees after which…pocketed it. The restaurant then had the audacity to inform the Puget Sound Enterprise Journal, “We stand by the best way we run our firm.” Wage theft: enterprise as typical in America.
- Pleasant native pizza store Pagliacci’s needed to repay their employees once more, this time for allegedly not correctly reimbursing their supply drivers over three years. Employees recouped a complete of $375,000. That ought to purchase every of them a big pep. Perhaps.
- In a class-action settlement, 156 employees on the venerable 5 Level Cafe and the Mecca Cafe received again $325,000 stolen from them after they had been allegedly not paid time beyond regulation, given their full wages, and denied meal and relaxation breaks.
- 83 workers of MOD Pizza’s College District location received an excellent $83,000 again from the corporate after its second violation of the Safe Scheduling Ordinance. I’m operating the numbers to see how a lot that’s per individual. I’ll get again to you on that.
- Naughty Nordstrom! Your mother’s favourite division retailer allegedly violated the Safe Scheduling Ordinance and the Wage Theft Ordinance and was pressured by the Workplace of Labor Requirements to return over $68,000 to 35 workers.
- The earlier possession of Flesh Flours Bakery & Cafe agreed to return only a few bucks over $400,000 to 134 workers of 4 of its areas.
- Gig employees received a much-needed win when 5,567 of those hardworking people had been returned over $730,000 for a number of alleged violations of the Gig Employee Paid Sick and Secure Time Ordinance.
- Greenback Tree received in on the motion, too, allegedly violating three separate ordinances. The corporate realized that they had screwed over 301 of their workers and returned simply over $180,000 to them. Simply kidding, the Workplace of Labor Requirements pressured them. Yay large authorities!
- $99,000 was returned to 186 affected workers of 4 Potbelly areas after the corporate someway forgot to abide by the Safe Scheduling and Paid Sick and Secure Time Ordinances. Simply plum forgot!
- Extra from the sandwich sector: Jimmy John’s, house of the Don’t Google The Proprietor, violated three ordinances sufficient instances to rack up over $624,000 in backpay they had been pressured to return to 853 workers.
- And this one hurts, Cheesecake Manufacturing unit. (We had been all rooting for you!) The Meals Manufacturing unit was pressured to return over $148,000 to 372 of its employees after alleged violations of the Safe Scheduling Ordinance.
- And at last, in Could, 495 Boeing employees received over $11.5 MILLION DOLLARS repaid to them after a multi-year L&I investigation that discovered the corporate allegedly didn’t compensate their workers correctly below Washington state legislation for necessary work journey. However then from that time ahead issues went easily, proper?
The Cursed Kroger Merger Was Killed
The merger that native unions known as a nightmare for employees and customers alike lastly met its finish. King County Superior Courtroom Decide Marshall Ferguson perma-banned the merger within the state of Washington then federal choose Adrienne Nelson in Portland killed it useless.
2025: we’ll afford to eat!
Employee Protections Had been Saved—and Improved
Rowdy worker-types bullied the Seattle Metropolis Council into saving the gig employee ordinance, Everett Metropolis Council handed a shiny new wage theft ordinance, and Governor Inslee signed into legislation an entire stack of pro-worker laws, together with a ban on captive viewers conferences, a key union-busting tactic.
Starbucks Employees Went on Strike
Shout out to the 5,000 Starbucks employees throughout 43 states who made the courageous choice to strike for 5 days throughout this vacation season. Right here’s to a extra equitable contract for them in 2025.
These nicely needs prolong to the parents nonetheless combating to maintain extra fruit from their labor, together with our colleagues on the Everett Guild and Cascade PBS.
And Lastly, Talking of 2025, Minimal Wage Will increase Had been Accredited
Seattle employees, you get $20.76 an hour! Renton employees, you get $19! Everyone else within the Evergreen, you get $16.66!
And keep in mind, if companies can’t afford to pay a dwelling wage, they shouldn’t be in enterprise.
Employees proceed to win! The Employee Conquests round-up lives! On to 2025.
Completely happy New 12 months, people.
