About that Seattle City Council seat...

The Seattle City Council just wrapped up the first of two days of public comment about the vacant seat. Dozens of people were there in person to speak out against the moneyed corporate interests trying to manipulate our city government process. But the push isn’t over. The council is voting TOMORROW 1/23 on who should fill the vacant seat. 

This is our last chance to urge the council to do the right thing. Here’s one thing you can do before the council votes tomorrow at 2pm:

  • Write to council@seattle.gov. Use your own words to oppose the corporate manipulation, or use this template: “I am a member of our Seattle community. I urge the Seattle City Council to appoint a candidate with demonstrated public service chops in stakeholder engagement, anti-austerity budget investments, and the ability to see and serve our most marginalized community members. We need an inclusive economy that uplifts and supports workers. We want to be able to afford life in this city, to feel safe raising our families here, and to invest in our schools and the public services everyone needs to thrive. We need thoughtful, experienced, trusted leaders who are qualified and ready to find the best solutions – not people who will simply do what well-paid consultants and their corporate clients tell them to do. This appointment decision is your first act as a council: use it to fill this seat with an experienced public servant who’s ready to tackle our biggest challenges.”

Your quick action – whether you signed the Concerned Citizens for Good Governance petition, turned out for public comment or emailed the council – is vital today. Let’s keep up the momentum all the way to the final vote. It’s not over ‘til it’s over.

Calling Out Shipt's Bullshi(p)t

In 2022, Seattle gig workers won a first-in-the-nation minimum pay standard so that gig companies could no longer pay subminimum wages to the workers who make app-based services possible. This new law goes into effect Jan. 13th, but instead of following it and paying workers a livable wage, Target’s delivery service Shipt announced it would rather skip town. 

Read More

We WON funding of workers' rights enforcement!

Amazing news: The collective gig worker support petition signatures were the final, essential push for Seattle City Council to shield funding for workers’ rights enforcement.

As of late yesterday, the Seattle City Council has approved the budget that includes first-ever dedicated funding for enforcement and outreach about gig workers’ rights!


Despite a massive corporate campaign of blatant lies backed by endless resources, we pulled off what workers need. Now the game has been changed from an underfunded Office of Labor Standards to a fully funded, robust enforcement system that shows Seattle cares about building a more equitable, pro-worker economy.

Now gig workers will have both the protection of new laws in place and the teeth to follow through so that we’re treated with the dignity and respect we deserve. The app companies have proven time and again that they'll violate our rights if they can get away with it. Now we have the funding to make sure they can't.

Securing dedicated funding is a good first step -- next, we need to make sure every gig worker in the city knows about the rights we've won and continue the fight to protect funding for community-based education and enforcement. Follow us and stay updated as workers continue to level the playing field and show other workers, customers, and the gig industry nationwide what’s possible when we organize.

Support Working Washington in worker leadership development, organizing, and collective liberation work by donating at this link.

Invite others to sign up for our list and join the fight at this link.

give workers' rights laws teeth

Our rights as workers are hard won, but the only way to actually make them real and effective is through enforcement.

“We created these laws — it’s time to give them teeth. If not, these companies will continue to abuse the independent contractors that are the lifeblood of their organization.”
— Bobby Bourne, gig worker

Without enforcement, app companies have repeatedly violated our rights and will continue to do so with no accountability.

We support the ten-cent fee that Seattle gig workers are championing to establish dedicated funding for the Seattle Office of Labor Standards (OLS) and Community Outreach and Education Fund (COEF).

Community-based organizations leading education and outreach to workers is the most effective form of organizing for stronger workplace protections and higher pay. OLS and COEF have been essential, helping workers enforce our rights, educate other workers about our rights, and win back nearly $14 million for workers from app companies caught violating our rights. 

“All of these companies have already shown us, that they will break the law any chance they get. They’ve taken money from workers and have lied to their customers about this legislation implying it’s a “tax on groceries,” which is a blanket lie about this fee.”
— Joelle Craft, gig worker

The app companies are lying to the public about this fee and about the workers advocating for it. 

By dropping over a dozen last-minute, bad-faith amendments to weaken or kill the fee so that they don’t have to pay it, they’re blatantly making a bid to continue to break workers’ rights laws, and keep their wealthy shareholders happy at the expense of the gig workers who are actually building their business. 

Despite paying $14 million in penalties in just the past three years, apps claim there really isn’t a need to fund enforcement. And they are trying to paint the gig workers fighting for the fee as dark-money, special-interest, and political operatives. 

But the apps are the ones with expensive lobbyists working to kill our bill and spending money on fearmongering ads trying to mislead consumers.

The apps claim that funding enforcement will make their services unaffordable – all while continuing to charge delivery and service fees that are often THIRTY TO FIFTY TIMES more than the fee we’ve proposed. 

Workers deserve to have enforcement and outreach adequately funded.

With DoorDash making a record $6.6 billion in revenue last year, Instacart’s stock prices surging, and GrubHub reporting year-over-year growth, it looks to us like they’re doing just fine.

“ These apps are a chamber of doom for this economy if they continue to try to dismantle enforcement mechanisms for laws that hold them accountable to their workforce. ”
— Jake Laundry, gig worker

Within 24 hours of launching a petition in support of the fee and funding enforcement, over 500 workers and supporters have signed.

The community recognizes the importance of workers having the tools to enforce our rights and educate other workers about those rights.

“This is not just about dollars and cents; it’s about our rights and dignity as workers. Gig workers in Seattle deserve fair treatment, and we can’t afford to let these misleading tactics hinder the progress we’ve made.”
— Wei Lin, gig worker

Online Voter Registration Deadline is Today!

The deadline for online voter registration is today! If you haven’t registered yet or aren’t sure about your status, you can easily get that done or verify it here.  After today, you can register in person only through election day, Nov 7th. 

If you aren’t sure you’re eligible to vote, check this resource. Did you know that youth ages 16-17 can sign up as a future voter and be automatically registered as soon as they qualify? Share this with someone excited to vote in the next round! 

Voting is essential to making sure worker voices are heard, and best believe big business is being loud and clear this cycle, cozying up with candidates who put down worker policies. So make sure you’re registered & ready to do your part!

(Plus the worker endorsement board worked very hard selecting the candidates who will have our backs in their next terms. Don’t let their time & effort interrogating politicians go to waste.)

Instacart is Lying

Seattle gig workers are advocating for a 10 cent fee that app companies should pay to fund enforcement of workers rights – like a minimum pay standard and prevention of unjust deactivations – when apps try to violate those rights. Which they do. Constantly.

Instacart emailed all of its Seattle customers to tell them that this fee is an illegal tax on groceries.

The truth is, the legislation specifically exempts groceries.

Instacart’s real beef with this fee is that they don’t want to pay ten cents to protect workers.

Instacart is pretending it’s concerned about working families. But it didn’t seem all that concerned about working people it spent years fighting in court to avoid paying workers pandemic hazard pay.

And it definitely wasn’t worried about working people when it hit a profit of $428 million in 2022 by adding its own delivery fee, service fee, busy pricing free, customer pricing fee, and item pricing fee to orders.

Don’t let Instacart lie to you.

The company has never had working people’s backs and it’s not going to start now. (And by the way: we wouldn’t need this fee if Instacart and other app companies would stop breaking the law.)


2024 Washington State Minimum Wage Increase

Effective January 1st, 2024, the state of Washington is getting a minimum wage increase. The new number - $16.28 an hour.  About half of what we need to earn to afford a one bedroom apartment in this state.

The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries re-evaluates minimum wage based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index every year and adjusts accordingly. This year’s adjustment is a 3.4% increase.

Washington currently has the highest state-level minimum wage in the country. The federal minimum wage still sits at $7.25 - a rate WA surpassed nearly two decades ago.  

Not being paid correctly? Washington L&I investigates wage-payment complaints submitted online, by mail, or in person.