OPINION
Thankful for worker solidarity
The STAND’s editor runs through 10 ways the labor movement is giving her hope this holiday season
by SARAH TUCKER
SEATTLE, WA (November 25, 2025) — I was asked recently if I’m optimistic about the future. Instantly, I said yes. That might be a surprising answer from someone who wakes up in the wee hours every morning to read the news, which is often, let’s say, a No Good, Very Bad Time™️. And true, the homepage of the New York Times rarely fills me with hope. But as I’m slogging through articles about the latest BS in the other Washington every morning, my email notifications start to ding. Union organizers and communicators across the PNW are sending me updates about working people joining together to build power, news I have the privilege to share. In so many ways, running The STAND is an exercise in optimism (and an experiment in how much caffeine one human can consume, but that’s a topic for another time).
Caffeine dependency aside, I’m incredibly grateful to do my small part to nurture worker solidarity. So in the spirit of giving thanks, here are the labor movement has filled my cup this year.
Thousands hitting the streets in Seattle on May Day.
1. Workers are hitting the streets. Labor marches on May Day and Labor Day brought thousands out around Washington, protesting attacks on working people, dehumanizing treatment of immigrants, and the many ways the current administration is using its power to further enrich billionaires. Community-led protests like the Hands Off and No Kings actions have united working people, both those organized and those not yet in unions. Despite attempts to characterize these protests as “hate America” rallies, people across the U.S. aren’t falling for the spin.
2. And workers are fighting for their unions and contracts, even if they have to strike. From Starbucks baristas challenging their employer’s egregious union busting, healthcare workers in Washington and Oregon running info pickets and even striking for fair contracts, janitors in King County using a credible strike threat to win a record-breaking contract, Everett NewsGuild journalists defeating proposals that would shred local journalism, Lavish Roots food service workers organizing with UNITE HERE, educators in Vancouver and Redmond staying united to win better classroom conditions for students and teachers — and so much more (seriously, just check the LOCAL tab on this site) — working people are refusing to keep their head down and put up with poor treatment.
Edna Cortez, RN addresses nurses and supporters at an informational picket at Seattle Children’s Hospital in September. Photo: WSNA
3. Federal workers holding the line and everyone who has their back. It’s been an absolutely brutal year for federal workers, from DOGE emails to mass firings to a more than month-long shutdown. Still, the people who ensure food safety, staff our national parks, care for veterans, fight fires (and thousands of other vital professions) continue to serve the public. It’s the kind of righteous stubbornness you’ve just got to admire.
4. Courageous leadership from community organizations. Long-time organizations on the ground, like La Resistencia and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, and newer collectives organized in response to Trump 2.0, like Tanggol Migrante Washington, are leading the fight to defend working people against a dehumanizing and violent detention and deportation machine. These immigrant-led orgs are inspiring models for how we can mobilize to defend our communities.
Community and labor supporters outside the NW Detention Center rallying for Llewelyn Dixon’s release.
5. Unions standing up for immigrant workers. As union siblings are snatched up by ICE or Border Patrol and detained, labor unions have stepped up to fight for their release, in partnership with immigrant-led community groups. From cross-union solidarity in support of Lelo Juarez, SEIU’s fight to free Lewelyn Dixon, IAM’s advocacy for Max Londonio, WFSE’s support of Sarah Shaw and more, organized labor is standing up to a system designed to intimidate and control working people. I find hope in a growing crescendo of calls from the labor movement to close the NW Detention Center, notorious for unlivable conditions.
6. Winning UI for striking workers. Thousands of working people flooded legislators inboxes and voicemails, traveled to Olympia to testify, and packed local town halls, urging their state legislators to support unemployment insurance for striking workers. Despite stiff opposition from some of Washington’s largest corporations and wealthiest residents, worker power won the day. (Shoutout to all the labor lobbyists who put in 105 12-hour days to secure that win.)
7. Working people elected pro-labor candidates up and down the ballot. From the Washington legislature to local races down the ballot, candidates who stood with working people won big in the 2025 election. Labor-endorsed candidates swept the legislative special elections even in Democrat v. Democrat races, demonstrating the power of the union vote (and payoff for the hundreds of union members who knocked doors and made calls to turn out labor siblings to vote.)
Union members pose for a photo while knocking doors for Rep. Edwin Obras.
8.Expanding opportunity in the trades. Pierce County CLC is moving forward with a plan for a center that combines apprenticeship training and childcare, helping ease one of the most significant barriers working parents face. The Snohomish & Island County CLC is spreading the word about careers in the trades in local schools, making sure students know there’s more than one path to a good-paying job. The Washington State Building & Construction Trades Council helped make the case to strengthen state practices around the use of project labor agreements. And LiUNA Local 242 opened a new training center in May, growing capacity for apprentices and journeyworkers to advance their skills.
9. Labor reporters making sure workers’ voices are heard. If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it successfully organize its workplace? From Kim Kelly’s unflagging commitment to shining a light on coal miners‘ struggle against black lung, Maximillian Alvarez’s coverage of federal workers fighting back, Luis Leon Feliz digging into the intersections between immigration enforcement and labor law violations, to Mark Gruenberg, Chauncey K. Robinson and more at People’s World, labor reporters are making sure workers’ organizing gets the attention it deserves.
10. Farmworkers, meatpackers, freight drivers, and grocery workers. Last, but certainly not least, I am grateful for the hundreds of thousands of working people picking and packing produce, processing turkeys, transporting food to grocery stores, and stocking shelves. And, knowing some of us may be exploring creative cooking options this year, I am also thankful for all the firefighters, first responders, and healthcare workers who’ll be on the job tomorrow. Do them a solid and fully defrost that bird before you drop it in the deep fryer.
If you’re making your green bean casserole base from scratch this year, respect the UFW farm workers’ boycott and don’t buy Windmill Farms mushrooms.
