September 2007

by Linda Averill

In 2006, a CBS profile of Andy Stern called the president of Service Employees International Union “a new breed of union boss.” Another description might be same old breed, on steroids.

It’s been two years since Stern and officials of six other unions split the largest US labor federation, the AFL-CIO, and created Change to Win (CTW). The heads of SEIU, Teamsters, United Food and Commercial Workers, UNITE-HERE, Laborers, Carpenters, and United Farm Workers vowed to chart a new course. They said they would organize new workers into labor’s fold and follow a more independent . . .

June 2006

Olympia, WA-- Hundreds of community members celebrated International Workers Day on Monday May 1st, 2006. People in Olympia assembled in Sylvester Park for a "Day Without an Immigrant" and joined in solidarity with millions of people across the US and workers around the world.

People gathered while speakers from various community groups talked about immigration, Zapatistas, cross-border organizing, local worker solidarity, and other ways for people to get organized. When the speeches ended, people took to the streets toward the State Capitol to voice their views.

April 2005

Olympia Pizza Time franchise owner Richard Kelley locked out all nine striking workers by closing the store on February 21. The last negotiations between Pizza time workers and Kelley broke down when Kelley insisted he would open the store if workers accepted wages below state law. Pizza time workers refused Kelley's unreasonable condition.

March 2005

by Drew Hendricks

The strike was not over, but Pizza Time's employees were absent from the picket line over the weekend of February 18th. Pizza Time at Old Towne's owner, Richard J Kelley, arrived downtown Friday at 9pm to find that his partner Shane Bloking had locked the doors at 6pm and disappeared. When Mr Kelley arrived, the "open" sign was still brightly lit and phone calls were being answered by a message that the phone line's mailbox was not properly configured. The doors to the store were locked.

July 2003

by R Jay Hershey

Once upon a time in Washington State, an injury to one union injured all union members. In downtown Olympia the Crane Cafe, The Spar, Ben Moore's, the China Clipper, the Olympia Oyster House, the Olympia Hotel, the Governor House, and dozens of other taverns and restaurants proudly displayed the little sign with the antique lettering which swept up from the left, "This is a Union House!" As a boy, I remember when a fry-cook from the Crane Cafe bought a lot out here on the South Bay Road and built a house. I went to South Bay Grade School with his son, Stan. A fry-cook can't do . . .

July 2003

by Drew Hendricks

On June 2nd, around 700 people gathered in Westlake Center to protest the Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit, which held a conference in Seattle for the week of June 2-6th 2003. In response to the published plans for the protest, the Seattle Police Department mobilized 120 riot police in full armor, some armed with AR-15 assault rifles. In addition to the armored police, Seattle PD deployed approximately 65 bicycle police, four horsemen, several vans, and an undetermined number of undercover police officers within the march itself. The overwhelming amount of force shown on the . . .

July 2003

by Drew Hendricks

Police arrested 12 people, injuring several seriously, after a peaceful march June 2nd against the Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit (LEIU) convention Seattle. Some of the people arrested live in Olympia and are requesting help finding video of their arrests.

Laurel Smith, a union shop steward and activist, who is also a former Evergreen student, was diagnosed by Capital Medical Center staff as having multiple head injuries sustained after police officers slammed her head into the pavement at 5th and Union four or more times. She momentarily lost consciousness during the arrest . . .

July 2003

by Drew Hendricks

The people who handled registration for the Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit (LEIU) conference in Seattle in early June were Washington State Patrol personnel who live in Olympia and Lacey. Michelle L Hahn works for the Washington State Patrol Criminal Intelligence Unit and was listed as contact for persons interested in registering for the conference. The published phone number and PO Box for LEIU registration belong to the WSP. LEIU, supposedly a private corporation, was not found to be registered as such in California, Oregon, Washington, or New York.

June 2003

by Drew Hendricks, Olympia Copwatch

On June first, people will gather in Seattle to begin to learn about and discuss the Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit. On June 2, they will seek to shut it down.

Some writers question whether the concern is warranted; a column in The Stranger (Vol 12 No. 35) suggested that the activist community has lost touch with the LEIU's current history and is planning a protest for unclear reasons, against a misunderstood foe. The columnist's confusion is understandable, since the LEIU has no web site of its own and does not appear to have an office or published phone . . .