Sept. 28: Protest the Ultra-right Freedom Foundation

BELLEVUE – On Friday, September 28, a mass picket will be held against the Freedom Foundation’s annual fundraiser banquet at the Bellevue Hilton Hotel, 300 112th Ave. S.E. The protest is being called from 4:30 to 6:30pm by Organized Workers for Labor Solidarity (OWLS). Close to 50 labor and community organizations have endorsed the picket, including the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO; Martin Luther King County Labor Council; and Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Puget Sound Chapter. (Additional Endorsers are listed below).22141114_10212453833533853_7790552945160429872_n

Organizers expect the picket to draw hundreds of people based on the strong responses from many unions that have endorsed and plan to show up in force. A year ago, more than 500 labor and community protesters turned out to take a stand against the Freedom Foundation’s political agenda. The prediction is that the protest will be even bigger this year.

The Freedom Foundation is featuring controversial keynote speaker Dinesh D’Souza, who was recently reported in Newsweek as tweeting racist and anti-Semitic hashtags. The Freedom Foundation has also attracted the anger of many unionists, who have received unsolicited Foundation emails urging them to “opt out” of their unions.

Protesters at the 2018 Picket of the Foundation are spotlighting three themes: “Stop the War on Workers,” “No to the Foundation’s racist, sexist, anti-LGBTQ & union-busting agenda,” and “Stand up for striking educators, immigrants, public services & the environment.”

Picket Endorsers include:
Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO
Martin Luther King County Labor Council
Seattle Building and Construction Trades Council
PNW Regional Council of Carpenters
American Federation of Teachers, Washington
Amalgamated Transit Union 587
American Federations of Government Employees 3197
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, Seattle
Barraza Law, PLLC
Bill Fletcher Jr. trade unionist/educator
Casa Latina
Central Puget Sound Carpenters 30
Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Puget Sound
David Rader, Treasurer, Retired Public Employees Council, Chapter 3
El Comite
Freedom Socialist Party
Fire Fighters (IAFF) Locals 27-Seatte; 1747-Kent; 31-Tacoma
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 483 – Tacoma
International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union 23
International Socialist Organization
Iron Workers 86
Machinists District Lodge 751
NW Accountability Project
Office and Professional Employees International Union 8
Olympia Chapter of Democratic Socialists of America
Radical Women
Residential Carpenters 816
Rosie’s Machinists 751
Seattle Gay News
Seattle Silence Breakers
Seattle Solidarity Network
Teamsters Union, Locals 117 & 763
United Food and Commercial Workers 21
Wash. Federation of State Employees, Locals 1488 and 304
Wash. Interior/Exterior Systems 41
Washington Public Employee Association
Washington Young Emerging Labor Leaders
John Holden, President Machinists 751
Jeff Johnson, President, WSLC-AFL-CIOJohn Holden, President Machinists 751
Juan Bocanegra, El Comite member
Nicole Grant, Exec-Secretary, Martin Luther King County Labor Council