Introducing: Take a STAND

by SARAH TUCKER

SEATTLE, WA (May 1, 2025) — The STAND was founded on May Day in 2011, with a simple mission: put news about working people standing together directly into the hands of workers ourselves. No corporate propaganda, no management spin, just news for workers, by workers. So it’s only fitting to launch a new feature on The STAND on International Workers Day dedicated to the goal that inspired founding Editor David Groves to build this whole dang thing to begin with.

As Editor aka, The Entire Staff of The STAND, I get a lot of emails from readers (keep ’em coming). Since the start of this year, many of those messages share a common theme: the world is on fire, and we must take our power back into our own hands.

We’re all seeing an anti-worker, profit-mad federal administration seeking to remake our country in their vision, a vision that spits on free speech and due process, treats working people like dirt, and weaponizes the mighty power of the wealthiest, most powerful nation in human history to terrorize immigrant families and empower billionaires to exploit all workers.

We are in the midst of a full-scale assault on our people and the basic freedoms that underpin the labor movement. It is only natural, as people of good conscience, to stand up in the face of these attacks and fight back.

Wanting to fight is only half the battle. With a breathless 24 hour news cycle, rapidly changing state of play from a volatile administration, and the unending content churn on social media, translating our desire for action into actually knowing how to take action is a struggle.

Enter ‘Take a STAND,’ a new, regular feature on this site. It’s your one-stop-shop for events to join, actions to take, organizing to plug into — everything you need to, well, STAND up for working people (the trade-off is that you’ll have to keep seeing me make this horrible pun). It’ll be updated regularly, and included in the daily STAND email (if you’re not on the list, sign-up here for the low, low price of $free.99).

Did you see a cool event in The STAND but can’t remember what edition it was in? No problem — everything covered on the site will be added to this new action page (and full details of events can be found in individual posts under the ‘Take a STAND’ header on the main page of the site, too.)

Planning an event you want labor family at? Picked up a flyer for a rally you think The STAND should promote? Send tips my way at stucker@wslc.org, or dm The STAND on Facebook and Twitter (@TheStandWA).

Sarah Tucker is the Editor of The STAND and Communications Director for the Washington State Labor Council.