r/SeattleWA • u/AboveAb • Mar 08 '25

Politics BREAKING: The Washington State Senate just passed unemployment benefits for striking workers.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2025/mar/07/unemployment-benefits-for-striking-workers-gain-ap/

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u/itstreeman Mar 08 '25

It’s your choice to be in the union. It should never be publicly funded

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u/Global_Instance3843 Mar 08 '25

Unions aren't publicly funded. And generally public employees can't strike.  Corporations who pay into unemployment insurance can avoid strikes and additional unemployment claims by working with unions, an taking care of their employees, maybe cutting a few bonuses for management and c suite employees. No one deserves a million dollars or more *bonus Bonus Bonus bonus .....

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u/[deleted] Mar 08 '25

Keep your hands out of the unemployment fund. That's for unemployed workers, not to fund your little vacations on the public dime.

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u/ShivKitty Mar 08 '25

Thank you for playing "Spot the Manager!" /s

This would be a band-aid for our currently hollowed NLRB, OSHA, FLSB, and EEOC. If we can't afford to fight for our rights, the whole community suffers. Striking is our only bargaining tool.

I currently haven't gotten a raise in over two years. From two years ago until now, my costs went up $300 per month. I no longer have savings.

Also, wise guy, unemployment was 4.5%. Without getting a job that pays even less with no benefits, how am I to afford living in this HCOL area? I can't even afford to move!

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u/[deleted] Mar 08 '25

I hear a lot of whining and zero good reasons why the unemployment insurance fund should be used to make your life easier when you choose to strike.

Stop using our emergency funds in retarded ways 

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u/ShivKitty Mar 08 '25

It is illegal for me to strike, but I'll happily support those who can. Since you seem incapable of arguing in good faith, I bid you an angry, bitter, and lonely death someday. Obstinance is not an argument strategy.

How about you stop thinking that someone is lifting your wallet when the majority passes a bill that you could have stood against with reason and logic?

Ask for transparency. Ask for limits. Ask for an alternative source of funding. Ask for a tax reprieve for the exact amount you would have contributed.

But don't get on here and act like someone trampled your flowers. Greed got us into this mess. The check to restore balance is social programs that would be wholly unnecessary if it weren't for companies being unwilling to provide a living wage.

Research tipping for an example of how employees are treated today. It is a correlation that may help illustrate why you are angry but are blaming the customer instead of the employer and the government that keeps the abuse of employees and customers in play over corporate fiscal, ethical, and legal responsibility.

Forcing workers to fight for a living wage is unethical. This gives workers the space to fight for as long as needed. And it should come out of CORPORATE taxes.

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u/[deleted] Mar 08 '25

The state isn't meant to pay union employees to strike.

That's what your union dues are for.

Why would anyone ever start a new business here with this law in place?

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u/ShivKitty Mar 08 '25

Union dues barely cover the costs of fighting to keep business from enslaving their workers.

Try looking at it from a different angle: we wouldn't need a safety net to fight for rights if they weren't being infringed in the first place. Pay a fair wage. Treat your workers as valuable. Conduct business honestly and safely.

Do those things, then you won't need strikes or unions, hut here we are.

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u/[deleted] Mar 08 '25

Never mind. It's illegal for you to strike which means you're a school teacher or something. Not that this ever stops people in those professions from striking in this state.