By Sylvie Delaney
Good evening everyone, we are gathered here today to honor the Worker’s Bill of Rights.
Together, we mourn the promise of decent pay and predictable scheduling that was taken too soon. Cause of death: A variety of public oppositional forces.
First, the city council majority opposed your legislation, in which you held underpaid workers in your protective embrace.Then, big (little) business owners followed at the heel of the council. Their desires were typical: wanting to keep you estranged from us, so they may continue scheduling us with less than two weeks notice and take away our hours without financial compensation or accountability. You would have guaranteed that part-time workers would be next in line to fill scheduling needs before new employees get hired.
We had faith in you. We petitioned, gained enough signatures to put you on the ballot, and campaigned on your behalf. We held picket signs so that others could believe in you too… but by the end of November 4th, you were lost by just a thousand votes. Your haters said you were poorly written, but we knew you were just open-minded and misunderstood. You were generous, thoughtful, and protective over our time, our wages, and against our exploitation. You didn’t care where the City of Olympia got the funding from, you just wanted them to make it happen. You knew what the cost of living crisis felt like; it seemed like you just got us. Anyone could agree that a $20 minimum wage, even adjusted with inflation, still isn’t enough to make a decent living in Olympia. But you could see it was the bare minimum to keep up with the ever rising cost of living in this strange little town.
You weren’t ahead of your time. You were right on time, but too many of us weren’t ready. You will be remembered. You will be avenged. We are workers; we will vote again, uncompromising on everything you stood for and what together we shall continue to demand.
