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Washington State

Forest Protectors Launch Tree Sit And Lawsuits To Stop Ecocidal Logging

Standing at the edge of the Aldwell Forest clearcut just above the Elwha River in Washington State, the Murphy Company’s devastation of the landscape slaps you in the face. Here on land owned by the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR), a beautiful mature forest has been logged for hardwood, plywood, and other wood products. Hacked-off stumps are visible in all directions, a few trees left to stand. The former forest floor, once rich with organisms and nutrients that fed life, now stands heaped into huge slash piles to be burned. The land doused with herbicide to kill any competitors to Douglas fir seedlings that will become a new tree plantation monoculture.

Labor Defends Jailed Immigrants: Forklift Driver, Hospital Worker

The Seattle-area labor movement is rallying in defense of immigrant members seized by the Trump regime. Forklift driver Maximo Londonio and his family were on their way home from vacation in the Philippines—where he and his wife had celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary—when he was pulled aside at the airport, held there for days, then taken to a for-profit jail. Londonio has a green card; he moved here from the Philippines when he was just a kid. His wife is a U.S. citizen; they have three daughters. And he’s a Machinist. “Quite a lot of people in the shop are upset,” said Local Lodge 695 President Richard Howard.

Unions Rise For Immigrant Rights At Tacoma ICE Detention Center

Tacoma, WA – On May 23, labor unions and Filipino community groups rallied with a unified message: “Free them all and shut it down!” As the Trump administration continues escalating attacks against immigrant communities, the working class is drawing closer together to defend itself and fight back. The coalition is demanding the immediate release of a Filipino union member known lovingly as “Kuya Max.” Maximo Londonio immigrated to the U.S. as a 12-year-old boy and is now 42. He was detained at the Sea-Tac airport on his way back home to Olympia from a family trip to the Philippines.

Anti-War Organizers Shut Down US Representative’s Recruitment Event

Tukwila, WA – On Wednesday, May 21, protesters rallied to Foster High School to disrupt a military academy ceremony. Congressional Representative Adam Smith was the host for the event. He was slated to personally hand out these endorsements to prospective military academy cadets, but, not for the first time, Smith failed to attend his own event, giving no notice to attendees. He had staffers play a video instead. Organizers from Seattle Against War (SAW) teamed up with Veterans for Peace to infiltrate this event and make sure the real consequences of war were told. After a short video of Adam Smith, SAW members interrupted a speech by a West Point military officer with chanting and disruption.

Pro-Palestine Student Activists Occupy University Of Washington

We are taking this building amidst the current and renewed wave of the student Intifada, following the uprising of student action for Palestine after the heroic victory of Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7th, which shattered the illusion of zionist-imperialist domination and brought Palestine to the forefront for all justice-loving people of the world. We respond to the call made by the Palestinian student movement in Gaza to “raise the pace and ceiling of your struggle and your honorable stances, quantitatively and qualitatively, against the institutions, corporations, and governments that participate in the slaughter of our children, our students, and our people.

Washington State Workers Take The Fight To The Governor

Hundreds of Washington state workers streamed into the capitol building in Olympia on April 9 demanding, “No cuts! No furloughs! Tax, tax the rich!” Our booming chants echoed through the rotunda, making it difficult for legislators to carry on their work. The governor’s office locked the doors on us, so we staged a sit-in in the hallway and marched throughout the capitol building. When the doors were finally opened, we crowded inside—but the only sign of Democratic Governor Bob Ferguson was a small photograph on the front counter. His chief of staff informed our union president, Mike Yestramski, that he would let Bob know we had stopped by.

Providing Family Benefits In Washington State

When Democrats had control of the House, Senate, and Presidency in 2021 and 2022, there was some hope that they would pass a comprehensive scheme of benefits for families with children. But the failure to pass the Build Back Better legislation and failure to extend the Child Tax Credit provisions of the American Rescue Plan dashed those hopes. With Republicans now in control of the House, Senate, and Presidency, any federal expansion of family benefits is effectively off the table for the next four years. States, especially those controlled by Democrats, have the ability to fill the void left by the federal government and enact their own suite of family benefits.

Boeing Machinists Strike

Third-shift workers walked out of Boeing’s giant factories at Renton and Everett, Washington, as their contract expired early Friday morning, blasting music and airhorns, shooting off fireworks, and waving hand-made signs. They immediately formed picket lines and began setting up homemade burn barrels with “IAM” carved in the side. “People are really excited to strike,” said Ky Carlson, a third-shift assembler who walked out at midnight and was picketing the Everett plant at 3 am. She said they were aiming for what the union demanded at the beginning of negotiations, 40 percent raises and restoration of the pension.

Billboards Inform Residents Of Nuclear Weapons In Their Back Yard

On July 22, and continuing for four weeks, five billboards will display the following paid advertisement: Did You Know, We’re only *** Miles from the Largest Concentration of Deployed Nukes in the World! Let’s Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Included in the five advertisements are maps showing the proximity of the cities and billboards in Everett, Lake Forest Park, Seattle, and Tacoma—to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, homeport for 8 of the Navy’s 14 Trident nuclear-powered submarines. The billboards serve as a public service announcement—informing the reader of the exact number of miles they are at that exact location, to the largest concentration of deployed nuclear weapons in the world. 

Judge Orders Railway To Pay Washington Tribe For Trespassing

Seattle, WA — BNSF Railway must pay nearly $400 million to a Native American tribe in Washington state, a federal judge ordered Monday after finding that the company intentionally trespassed when it repeatedly ran 100-car trains carrying crude oil across the tribe’s reservation. U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik initially ruled last year that the railway deliberately violated the terms of a 1991 easement with the Swinomish Tribe north of Seattle that allows trains to carry no more than 25 cars per day. The judge held a trial earlier this month to determine how much in profits BNSF made through trespassing from 2012 to 2021 and how much it should be required to disgorge.

Locked-Out Firefighters Picket Boeing

The aerospace giant Boeing locked out 125 firefighters across multiple facilities in Washington state May 4 after contract negotiations broke down. “We want to be out there working and protecting the community of Boeing employees,” said firefighter Jon Riggsby, vice-president-elect of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local I-66. “But the company won’t allow us.” Boeing firefighters are on hand for fueling, takeoffs, and landings. They also respond to any medical emergencies at company facilities in Seattle, Everett, Renton, Auburn, and Moses Lake. They’re the first line of defense to prevent the spread of flame and toxic emissions from the combination of materials used to build aircraft such as the Boeing 737, Triple Seven, and others as part of military contracts.

Climate Movement Elders Revive Monkey Wrench Tactics

Earlier this year, seven activists entered the site of a proposed timber sale in Washington State, intent on halting — or at least delaying — the destruction of trees with immense carbon storage potential. Over the course of several hours, they hiked off-trail through the dense understory, removing signs and flagging tape marking the boundaries of the controversial Carrot timber sale. The creative nonviolent direct action seemed to pay off, as a couple days later Washington’s Department of Natural Resources, or DNR, announced it was cancelling the Carrot sale for the time being.

Protest Trident Submarine Base In Honor Of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Bangor, WA - Members of the Resist US-Led War Movement and Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action  were present, on January 13, at the demonstration against Trident nuclear weapons at the Bangor submarine base.  Due to severe cold weather, which caused mechanical difficulties with equipment, the Main Gate at Bangor was closed. About 35 demonstrators braved the 20 degree weather and voiced their desire for a nuclear weapons-free world to drivers and passengers in backed-up traffic entering the Trigger Ave. entrance.  Signs with quotations by Dr. King stated, “We Still Have a Choice Today: Nonviolent Coexistence or Violent Annihilation” and “When scientific power outruns spiritual power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men.”  

To Fix Short-Staffing, Raise Wages, PeaceHealth Strikers Say

One of the largest non-nurse health care strikes in Pacific Northwest history began at 6:30 a.m. this morning, shedding light on skilled workers who often get overlooked. We’re demanding that PeaceHealth, a Jesuit-run health system, raise wages and fix critically short staffing—two issues that are closely related. The strikers are 1,300 workers at two hospitals in southwest Washington: PeaceHealth Southwest in Vancouver, and PeaceHealth St. John in nearby Longview. The strike will last five days; workers will return to work October 28. PeaceHealth had announced that it would cut off health insurance if the strike continued into November.

Peoples Summit Against APEC

Seattle, WA - A delegation from Workers World Party branches in Seattle, Portland and New York City attended the People’s Summit Against APEC on July 29 and 30, put on by Pacific Northwest-People Over Profit. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a neoliberal, free-trade conference where “government and big business collude to prioritize corporate profits at the expense of the global working class and poor”. The People’s Summit had over 350 people in attendance and was sponsored by nearly two dozen groups. Organizers included Anakbayan USA, Bayan Seattle, Oregon People Organizing for Philippines Solidarity, International Women’s Alliance and more.

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