They deserve to be treated with respect,
they deserve to earn enough to feed their families to go out to eat once in a while.
To think about a vacation, we're not meant to just go to work and go home and die.
We have lives to live and that's what we're fighting for.
>> Concrete workers in Seattle have been striking not for
one, not for two, but nearly three months.
But you wouldn't know it because the corporate media hasn't given it an ounce
of coverage.
But we'll talk about it because it's an important story that has a ripple
effect on society.
It has an impact on infrastructure,
It's gonna have an impact on the Biden administration.
And I think it's an incredibly important story to know the details about.
So the workers want something very simple,
it's usually what you see in strikes, they want better wages.
They wanna ensure that they have better healthcare benefits and
a decent pension to retire on.
In fact, here's more from the striking concrete workers in Seattle.
>> We worked through the pandemic for them,
made them a ton of money during the pandemic and to turn around.
And deny these families the same medical coverage that we earned,
just 23 years ago is crazy.
>> They think they can benefit in the long run off of short changing us.
When they've even said they have the money to give us what we're looking for.
>> The biggest single thing we're demanding is respect.
>> And they refused to negotiate.
It's their turn to put another offer on the table and they refused to.
>> Inflation the cost of living around here has gone through the roof.
My local safe way, just up the hill in West Seattle,
that is, they're selling ground beef for 799 a pound.
And we're building a city that we're not able to live in anymore.
>> And to be quite honest, that is something that workers across the country
are experiencing all of these cities.
All of these towns becoming so unbearably expensive to the point where
the workers need to commute further and further away.
In order to afford housing and so
it is incredible to see how much this strike has grown over again, three months.
And it began in November with just 34 workers.
Now it has spread to six construction companies and
it includes hundreds of workers.
Now picket lines on major construction sites around puget sound region
have been in effect since November of 2021.
Thousands of construction workers have been laid off as a result.
And more will likely follow as negotiations with concrete suppliers
remain at a standstill.
Now, the employers claim that, they're totally trying to negotiate in good faith.
I had a conversation with the communications director for
the union representing the striking workers.
And it turns out that that's a lie they are unwilling to negotiate and
as a result are just kinda waiting out the situation.
To see if they could make the strike end by ensuring that the workers
are incredibly desperate at this point.
Many of them have to rely on Cobra in order to provide health insurance for
themselves and their families.
The communications director for the union also told me that, there's one worker, for
instance, whose wife has cancer.
And the situation is dire and the employers here are hoping,
well maybe if we just abandon them for now.
Eventually they'll be so desperate that they'll have no choice but
to accept our terms and what we want in the contract.
Now, the companies that are experiencing this strike include.
Cadman, there's cal Portland's Glacier, Northwest,
salman bay, sand, gravel, I'm sorry, salmon bay sand.
And gravel, Lehigh cement, stone way cement,
stone way concrete and gary molino.
In terms of gary molino.
Apparently, workers with that company had walked off the job on
an unfair labor practice strike on November 19th specifically.
The other suppliers have been impacted by similar strikes since December third.
Now, employers again are stonewalling,
they're refusing to have these contract negotiations with the striking workers.
And so, Jamie Fleming,
this is the communications director that had a conversation with.
She's the spokesperson for the teamsters one,
74 representing 330 workers employed by various local concrete suppliers.
She noted that thousands of construction workers have been laid off over the course
of the strike.
With more to come, striking members with teamsters one,
74 lost health care coverage on February first, as I mentioned earlier.
Now this is having a domino effect?
Because if you don't have the materials necessary to do construction,
you can't do construction.
So this is not only impacting the striking workers,
it's also having impacts on carpenters, contractors, other construction workers.
Corporations that were expanding and looking forward to
building new headquarters, Microsoft and Facebook included.
Are now having to delay their projects.
And while some might argue, well,
that sucks because other workers are being impacted by this.
This is the kinda pressure that a strike leads to the kinda pressure
that makes people kinda rally together to find a solution.
To ensure that the needs of the workers are actually represented.
And for those of you who are wondering, well, are the other workers in other
trades feeling angry about this or is their solidarity?
Well, let's watch the rest of this video because you'll find out toward the end.
[MUSIC]
>> When concrete doesn't get delivered.
It is a domino effect.
The steelworkers ran out of work first, then it will be the carpenters,
obviously the concrete finishers.
And it just trickles on down the line when you can't pour
another deck on a high rise.
They can't keep going up.
>> As painful it is to watch these other guys getting laid off and
I have many friends that have texted or called me.
And let me know that, hey, what's going on?
They're asking other companies coming to terms, are they even talking to you guys?
Because they're sitting at home too.
>> The other trades have really come through for us.
They come to a strike line, they bring us protein, sweets,
snacks, water, coffee, jokes, handshakes and thank you.
This is the kinda support I was telling you about.
>> You love to see it and
there really is this growing labor militancy across the country.
I mean we've seen it with so many different strikes, so
many different efforts to unionize.
We're seeing it with Starbucks,
we're seeing it with Ari I now we've covered the john Deere strike.
Which did lead to great results.
The workers were able to agree to a contract that they deemed fair.
And they were able to see better benefits, better working conditions and better pay.
And so I think that workers, especially in these trades,
understand what's at stake here.
While it's obviously incredibly frustrating to have this
instability at the same time.
What ends up happening is,
it applies the pressure necessary to these employers to really rethink.
How they carry out these labor negotiations.
Now, there are ways that you can help support these
striking workers if you're interested.
They do have a fund, they refer to it as the hardship fund.
And for anyone who wants to help will include a link in the description box
below, just click on that.
Donate what you can because it's really,
what's helping to sustain these workers as they engage in the strike.
And they mean business like I said, it's been going on for three months.
It's really interesting to see how undeterred they are regardless
of the pressure that they're facing as a result of these employers.
Ensuring that they're kinda left in the dark without health care benefits.
The other news I wanted to share with you is how others are responding to this for
instance.
The chief of the transit board in the area is frustrated because they
were supposed to expand the public transportation there.
And so here's what he had to say since early December or after the strike began.
We've missed delivery of more than 14,000 cubic yards of concrete.
That's equivalent to 1400 truckloads or to give you some perspective.
A line of concrete trucks stretching more than nine miles in length.
So again, this has a ripple effect and I would just ask the federal government.
I'm sure they see this as some local labor dispute, not anything to be worried about.
But for all the democrats out there who rely on or
plan to rely on the passage of that pro corporate infrastructure bill.
If that's what you're gonna campaign on to get reelected,
you're in a lot of trouble because everything here is connected.
These concrete workers are striking and
it is having a ripple effect on the construction industry.
That includes building or expanding infrastructure.
Has anyone in the federal government drawn attention to this or gotten involved.
I'm sure eventually Bernie Sanders will say something because he always does,
if he hasn't already.
But the corporate democrats who keep talking about the importance of
infrastructure.
Who keeps saying no, no, no, don't criticize us for not doing anything about.
Police reform, voting rights, social spending,
all the other things that we promised you student loan debt.
Don't pay attention to that.
Just pay attention to this wonderful thing that we did in a bipartisan way,
then fantastic pro corporate infrastructure bill.
Well, again, if you're gonna run on that you got
a little problem because workers feel that they've been neglected.
They feel that they're not getting their fair share of the pie.
And again, that is gonna impact not only Seattle not only Washington but
the rest of the country.
Especially considering how much concrete is being,
basically produced and distributed from this hub.
So, are you guys gonna do anything about it?
Or you gonna pretend the workers don't mean anything?
I think what's incredible about this story and
all the other labor militancy that we've been talking about on this show.
Is that it shows you a just how much power workers do have,
if they organize have union protection.
And are able to strike, it does apply the necessary pressure to,
take a little control in your workplace.
But aside from that, all of this stuff is so connected.
And so when we talk about issues with the supply chain, remember,
our supply chain is vulnerable.
Specifically because the very people who are so
critical to that supply chain have been abused for so long.
They've had enough.
They're seeing record profits among their employers and
they're not getting their fair share of that pie.
And so again,
democrats wakey wakey I know that they're not talking about the pro bill anymore.
I know they don't care too much about building a society that's a little
more friendly to workers who wish to organize into unions.
But if you're gonna ignore stories like this,
there will be a political price to pay.
Again, especially if you're looking forward to campaigning on infrastructure.