The STAND’s top stories of 2025

From the legislature to the job site to the street, here are The STAND’s most read stories this year

SEATTLE, WA (December 18, 2025) — Working people kept our foot on the peddle throughout 2025, mobilizing for mass actions, securing wins in the state legislature, standing up for our rights, negotiating strong contracts, and making sure workers’ voices are heard. The STAND’s readers have been there every step of the way, reading and sharing stories of working people standing together across Washington. Here are some of this year’s most-read stories:

Labor rallies for Lewelyn and Lelo (March 28, 2025)

“This is about immigrant workers detained by ICE, yes,” said Cherika Carter, Secretary Treasurer of the Washington State Labor Council, in rally remarks. “But it’s also about a system that punishes us for raising our voices. A system that fears organized people more than it fears injustice. One that profits from division, depends on fear, and silences resistance. This system is not broken—it’s working exactly as it was designed: to protect corporate power, suppress dissent, and keep working people fighting each other instead of fighting back.”

Photo: Teamsters Local 174

Boeing Teamsters win new contract (April 24, 2025)

The agreement comes on the heels of labor disputes between Boeing and workers represented by the International Association of Firefighters and the International Association of Machinists. “When these negotiations began, we were prepared to face the same adversarial bargaining relationship Boeing had taken with other unionized groups, but instead we were pleased to discover this management team was committed to rewarding the hardworking drivers who keep Boeing running,” said Teamsters Local 174 Secretary-Treasurer Rick Hicks in a statement.

UI for striking workers signed into law (May 20, 2025)

“Our goal, as union members, is never to go on strike. Negotiating for months past a contract expiration is costly and unnecessary and we shouldn’t have to withhold our labor in order to get a fair contract,” said Callie Allen, a registered nurse in the Family Birth Center at Multicare Valley Hospital in Spokane Valley. “However, if we do have to strike, we deserve this kind of support. This legislation is a big win for working families and union members here in Washington! Hopefully this will motivate employers to negotiate fair contracts quickly so the days of labor strikes can be put behind us.”

Photo: Owain Waszak

WSLC endorses UFW mushroom boycott (May 23, 2025)

“The union-busting and disrespect that Windmill Farms has subjected our farmworker siblings to is both shameful and unacceptable,” said April Sims, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. “These hard-working folks literally put food on our tables, yet their employer refuses to treat them with respect and recognize the union that the workers have fought for. As the leader of the largest labor organization in our state, let me be clear: Washington is a union state, and over half a million union members statewide are putting our money where our mouths are. No Windmill Farms mushrooms until the workers’ demands are met.”

Photo: WAWU

Western University student workers strike (May 29, 2025)

“We don’t want to strike, but the WWU Administration has disregarded our decision and left us no choice,” said Mathew Woorden, Program Support Staff at the Academic Advising and Student Achievement Center, in a statement. “We’re asking for the same rights as our peers, health and safety protections, proper training, to know our hours in advance, basic working protections for the jobs we do that Western depends on, and that enables us to work our way through an undergraduate education which is getting harder and harder.” OSEs at Western are part of a wave of student organizing at campuses across Washington and the U.S., as more student workers choose to join together in union to secure better working conditions and a voice on campus.

‘We’re losing good people’ (June 17, 2025)

No one gets rich working at a VA medical center. The healthcare workers who take these jobs do it because they care about the patient population, and they want to tackle the challenge of providing complex care. But unrelenting attacks on federal workers are taking a toil. “I assumed I would just do 30 years in the VA, no problem as a nurse,” said Hranek. “Now, I’ll make it to 20 but I’m not gonna make it to 30. There’s no way.” Cuts to the VA will inevitably harm veterans. But the ripple effects of losing funding and staff reach far beyond military communities.

Photo: UFCW Local 367

UFCW 367 grocery workers secure tentative agreement (July 9, 2025)

In a step forward for collective power, the tentative agreement also aligns contract expiration dates between Pierce, Mason, and Thurston counties, covering the bulk of UFCW Local 367-represented grocery workers. Those workers would be able to stand together in future contract negotiations, giving the workers more leverage at the table. The tentative agreement was secured through a member-led bargaining strategy that featured open bargaining sessions, a first for UFCW Local 367. The bargaining team encouraged all members as well as labor and community supporters to show up to those sessions, making sure management knew Washingtonians stood with the workers.

Max Londonio tells his story (July 21, 2025)

While Brother Max is now free, the fates of those he was detained with are front of mind. He called for supporters to continue to fight to release those still held in inhumane conditions inside NWDC. “As we continue to advocate for justice, accountability, and migrant rights, let’s stand with one another in unity,” said Maximo Londonio. “We, the people.”

Photo: IUPAT District Council 5

Seattle painters fired after winning their union (August 6, 2025)

Rivas has a track record of wage theft and violating safety protections, leading workers to shut down an unsafe jobsite and sign union cards, per IUPAT District Council 5. These workers, predominantly immigrants, say that Rivas was paying them less than half the area standard wage, and witholding overtime pay and proper safety equipment. “What’s the best weapon to control people? Fear,” said Beto, a glazier, in Spanish. “It’s like they really think at the end of the day, we are disposable.” Despite this retaliation, workers are continuing to stand together and fight for their rights and dignity to be protected.

Photo: UNITE HERE Local 8

Meta food service workers organize union (August 6, 2025)

Already unionized tech food service workers on Google, Microsoft, and even another Meta campus in the Seattle area earn higher wages and have access to free, quality health care benefits.  Workers at the Bellevue and Redmond locations must pay out of pocket for high-cost, high-deductible health insurance that costs as much as $1,520 per month for family coverage. “I went to culinary school for my craft. Still, I haven’t been to a doctor for ten years. I injured my shoulder several years ago. Every day that I work I feel it get worse, but I’m not able to get treatment for it. I want to change that for me and for all my coworkers,” said Liz McKinney, Pastry Cook at Lavish Roots.

Caregivers protest Amazon, corporate greed (September 29, 2025)

Washington State Labor Council President April Sims also spoke at the rally, celebrating workers’ courage in fighting back against these attacks on working families. “They’re betting we’ll stay silent while they take from our communities to give more to the wealthy elite,” said Sims. “Pick up a book or turn on the news because working people have never backed down. Our solidarity is bigger than their greed, our unity is stronger than their hate, and our history is louder than their lies.”

Photo: WSNA

Nurses are the ‘conscience of caring’ (October 22, 2025)

In contract negotiations with nurses represented by the Washington State Nurses Association, Seattle Children’s has brought in notorious union-busters Morgan Lewis, a corporate law firm currently representing SpaceX in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board (the NLRB has charged SpaceX owner Elon Musk with unfair labor practices). At the table, Morgan Lewis is pushing to force nurses’ employment claims to be handled through mandatory arbitration instead of the courts where nurses have access to jury trials and the right to appeal.

Photo: Mïlo Nicholas

‘It feels like I can’t stop the bleed’ (October 29, 2025)

On a normal day, Mïlo Nicholas would be checking in with community health clinics in tribal communities across Washington, reviewing patients’ charts to make sure they get the food and care they need. But normalcy evaporated on October 1, when Mïlo and their coworkers were temporarily laid off with only a few days notice. Refusing to negotiate over healthcare insurance benefits, Congressional Republicans allowed federal government funding for critical programs to lapse. Now Mïlo and hundreds of other public servants in Washington are going without paychecks, while hundreds of thousands of working families statewide are wondering how they’ll pay their grocery bills.