On Saturday, May 9, Organized Workers for Labor Solidarity (OWLS) is spearheading an Emergency Motorcade for Workers Rights to help workers put a spotlight on critical safety demands and to show public support for their fight. Vehicles will meet up at 11:30 am in the parking lot at 1st Avenue S. and S. Lander Street under the OWLS banner. The Motorcade will run from 12 noon to 2pm. Sign-making materials will be available for posting on vehicles.
Led by bus drivers, grocery clerks, custodians, and other essential workers, the motorcade will make stops along the route to highlight current worker struggles, including at Metro/King County, Whole Foods, and Harborview Medical Center. The action is being held on the anniversary of the 1934 West Coast Waterfront strike, when dock workers shut down ports for 83 days to demand safety and unionization.
As the economy slowly reopens putting more workers at risk and unemployment claims reach record levels, frontline workers will press for pro-labor solutions to the COVID19 crisis such as reduced work hours with no cut in pay to provide relief for those working in harm’s way, and jobs for those who are newly unemployed. The demands of the Motorcade include:
- No Safety No Work. PPE. Free healthcare for all
- Full rights for immigrant workers. Release detainees
- End discrimination – fight racism and sexism on the job
- Defend the right to strike
- 30 hours work for 40 hours pay: less exposure for those working; create more jobs
- Initiate a massive public jobs program – at union wages
