Level the playing field: Pass UI for strikers

Share your support for unemployment insurance for striking workers by signing in PRO on SB 5041 today

OLYMPIA, WA (January 16, 2025) — Working people are organizing in record numbers, but face an uphill battle when fighting for union recognition and bargaining, especially a first contract. Employers can refuse to recognize or bargain with a union, forcing workers to strike. But bosses are always able to weather a work stoppage better than a worker, especially when that worker is low paid. Employers know this, and bad bosses use the precarity of low wages as a bargaining strategy, relying on workers’ economic strain to keep them from taking action to organize a union or win a contract. 

Providing unemployment insurance (UI) for striking workers upends this predatory dynamic, allowing workers to collect benefits if they strike. The bill, SB 5041, encourages good faith bargaining by limiting employers’ ability to use workers’ economic hardship as a negotiating strategy. SB 5041 is being heard in the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee on Tuesday, January 21. 

TAKE A STAND: Use this link to sign-in PRO on SB 5041 today and show legislators that Washington supports leveling the playing field for workers exercising their right to join together in union and collectively bargain. 

Without access to UI, workers are stuck in a vicious cycle. They can’t win better wages and achieve economic security without a contract; but they can’t secure a contract because their employers won’t negotiate, instead relying on workers’ economic instability to keep workers from withholding their labor. 

Workers do not go on strike lightly. When they do, UI can be an important safety net. But UI does not fully replace lost wages; unemployment insurance will help working families survive during a work stoppage, but only a fair contract can help them thrive.

With SB 5041, more working people will be empowered to organize and win the life-changing security of a union contract.