LOCAL
Rally on July 17 with Davis Wire strikers in Kent
UPDATE — Prior to Tuesday’s 3 p.m. rally in Kent, striking workers at Davis Wire will converge at 11 a.m. Tuesday on the King County Courthouse in Seattle, where they will officially join a lawsuit alleging that the company created sweatshop-like conditions by working employees off the clock and denying employees rest and meal breaks in an unsafe environment and failing to pay them statutorily-required overtime wages. After the courthouse action, workers will go to the 3 p.m. rally at Davis Wire in Kent (19411 80th Ave S.)
We need to show these strikers that the community supports them in their struggle to win safe working conditions and protect basic workplace rights. So please make plans to attend Tuesday’s rally. (Download the rally flier.)
In addition, here’s what you can do to support the Davis Wire strikers:
Watch this video with Davis Wire employees describing why they are on strike, the working conditions they face, and how they have been treated by their employer.
On May 21, the workers went on strike to protest what Local 117 says was a series of unlawful actions by the company. The union has filed Unfair Labor Practice charges with the NLRB accusing the company of a dozen violations of federal labor law, including bad faith bargaining, worker surveillance, worker intimidation, and illegal threats to shut down the facility.
In addition to the Unfair Labor Practice charges, workers have joined a class-action lawsuit accusing their employer of denying them the right to take rest and meal breaks and working employees without paying them over a three year period. The complaint, which was filed in King County Superior Court on April 30, describes sweatshop-like conditions, in which employees were pressured to work 12-hour shifts without a break and eat lunch at their work stations while operating dangerous machinery.
Davis Wire is one of four manufacturers in the Heico Wire Group. Over the last few years, four workers have been killed in industrial accidents at Heico facilities across the country. At the Kent facility, workers have suffered serious injuries, including wire punctures, broken bones, and mangled fingers. Last week a machine operator was injured and hospitalized after his hand got caught between two spinning rollers of a fabric machine.
Davis Wire also operates plants in Irwindale, CA and Pueblo, CO. Some of the company’s major customers include Home Depot, Lowe’s, and several major construction companies.
Both the lawsuit and the Unfair Labor Practice charges can be viewed on Local 117’s website at www.teamsters117.org.
Also at the Teamsters Local 117 website, get more details about how you can support striking workers, including information about where you can join these workers on the picket line.