Welcome to a new look for The STAND

By DAVID GROVES
Editor

SEATTLE (Nov. 27, 2023) — Several months ago, we sought reader input to inform an impending redesign of The STAND. Well, here we are. Welcome to the new look for the only “daily digital newspaper” produced by an AFL-CIO state federation.

Honestly, based on the feedback we received, there were few complaints or suggestions about The STAND’s design. Most of the feedback was to keep providing this valuable news service and to try to include even more local content from across Washington state, as opposed to national news and opinion. But after 12-plus years with the previous design — an eternity for a website — a change was due.

We mostly left the site’s structure intact and just tweaked the design. However, you should notice a vast improvement in functionality, particularly when viewing the site on phones and tablets. Please continue to provide feedback about what you like and don’t like about this service.

The first image ever posted at The Stand as we introduced the service.

The STAND was first published on May Day 2011 by the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions to provide a new source of union news and information. Too often, important stories about Washington’s labor movement and rank-and-file union members are not told in the commercial press. So the WSLC wanted to create a news hub that collected and posted “News About Working People Standing Together in Washington State.”

Since then, The STAND has grown to become a regular part of each weekday for thousands of subscribers and users. Every morning by 9 a.m., news stories are posted at www.theStand.org about Washington’s union movement and its progressive community allies. (All WSLC affiliates and allied organizations: Send us your news so we can share it with the rest of our community!)

In addition, The STAND’s Daily News highlights each weekday’s headlines of interest from the commercial press and other news sources. This is not accomplished through keyword searches or (shudder) AI. The STAND’s Daily News is curated by an actual person who gets up way too early and browses multiple news sites so our readers can start their day knowing what’s happening in the labor movement locally and nationally.

The STAND’s Calendar provides notice of union pickets, rallies, forums and other events of interest. (Let us know if you have one you’d like added to the calendar.)

Then, after each day’s content posted at The STAND, it is summarized in an email to subscribers so they can see what’s new. (Subscribe here.)

Though many union locals and councils offer important news and information at their websites and via social media, The award-winning STAND is a unique news service — the only one of its kind produced by an AFL-CIO state federation or central labor council.

“It’s the newsstand about taking a stand, hence the name,” said WSLC Communications Director David Groves, who has served as the site’s Editor since it’s inception — and who is referring to himself in the third person as he writes this article.

Until today, Groves has also referred to himself as The Entire Staff of The STAND. In truth, he used to be the only person who designed, edited and wrote content for The STAND for many years. But over the past year or so, WSLC Digital Organizer Sarah Tucker has stepped in and posted content to the site when Groves is not available.

So, dear reader, please know that effective today, The Entire Staff of The STAND now officially includes them both. (Congratulations, Sarah, on receiving this honor. Please update your LinkedIn page.) Feel free to reach out to either or both of us at dgroves@wslc.org and stucker@wslc.org if you have submissions or suggestions for the site.

Thank you for reading The STAND and sharing it with your family, friends, co-workers, and colleagues who may find this news of interest.