Here's the story of our latest fight, in Anthony's words:

I'm a caregiver. We go to the homes of disabled people with health issues, to help them with housework, chores, like cooking and doing their laundry. I worked for Chesterfield Health Services since 2003. And when you're working as a caregiver, you have to drive your clients to do their shopping, and to medical appointments.

Chesterfield was paying for my mileage until 2008. Then they stopped paying me for the mileage. Their claim was that I had some traffic violations in my driving record. But after they stopped paying me for my mileage, they did not withdraw me from driving the clients.

I realized they were violating my rights. I tried to talk to them, so many times, but they ignored me. They were violating the contract. They were not respecting me. I contacted SEIU, since I am a member of that union. And they did not call me back. I contacted them a few times, but found that I was not getting anywhere.

I was struggling with my credit card payments. That hundred bucks I had been getting for the mileage was enough to cover the minimum payments for my credit card. Now I was unable to pay some of my bills because I did not have the money. It destroyed my credit.

I was thinking, where can I get help? On my way to work one day I saw a poster about SeaSol. I stood up and I read it. I thought, those are the people to contact.

The first thing I did with SeaSol was, we sat down and I told my story. We decided what action to take. The first action we took was to take a demand letter to Chesterfield.

If they needed to, they could go ahead and fire me. I did not care. I knew I was asking for my rights. I have been doing a good job, helping disabled people, and it has made me a name in Seattle, so even if I got fired, other companies were waiting for me. That gave me courage.

We organized 35 people to go with me to take the demand to Chesterfield. When we got there, the Human Resources manager Jared came and met us, and we told him what we wanted.

The following day I got the phone call from Jared, and he said he needed an appointment with me. And at the appointment, they fired me.

I contacted SEIU about the firing, to file a grievance, then met again with SeaSol, and we decided the next move we were going to take, because they had not responded to the demand letter. We put up posters about how Chesterfield was not paying me for my mileage for all those years I had been working for them. I think those posters had some effect.

The next move we took was picketing at Chesterfield. We went there with about ten people and we picketed. Management was scared, because I think they had not thought we would do something like that. They called the police, but there was no problem.

The following day I got a phone call. Chesterfield had offered me $2800. I did not take it. I wanted the amount I was demanding with SeaSol: $3600. And they agreed to that. The final offer was $3600.

I have learned a lot from SeaSol. People in this world are being oppressed because they have no support. Without support, as a lone individual, to fight these corporations is very hard. My fellow employees did not believe I could get that offer. Now they have realized, there is a way. SeaSol has opened my eyes. We are fighting a good fight. I am looking forward to bringing in more people.

About the author: Anthony lives in Seward Park, Seattle. He's originally from Kenya. He quickly got another job with a different health care company, and is still working as a caregiver.

On April 23rd and 29th, SeaSol organized solidarity pickets at the request of two different groups of workers whose employers are attempting to bust their unions: at Jimmy Johns in Minneapolis, and at Provenance Hotels in San Francisco.

On March 21st, Jimmy Johns fired six Minneapolis workers who have been organizing to win paid sick days, so that employees will no longer feel the need to come to work while sick and risk infecting customers' food. In response to this outrageous mass firing, the Jimmy Johns Workers Union (IWW) in Minneapolis called for support from organizations around the country, setting April 23rd as a nationwide day of action against Jimmy Johns. SeaSol answered the call by organizing a 35-person picket during the lunch rush at the Capitol Hill Jimmy Johns, in conjunction with the Seattle branch of the IWW. Just before picketing, we collected donations to compensate the shop's employees for any money they might lose from lack of business due to the picket. We picketed for about two hours, directly turning away several customers by explaining why we were picketing, as well as turning away countless others who chose not to approach the picket line. Jimmy John's was nearly deserted for the duration of the action, at what would normally be the busiest time of the day.

Our other action, on April 29th, was against Hotel Max in downtown Seattle. Provenance Hotels, which owns Hotel Max, is currently refusing to recognize the union contract at its newly acquired San Francisco hotel, called Hotel Frank, which has been union for over 40 years. At the request of hotel workers in San Francisco, we organized a noisy picket at Hotel Max on Friday the 29th, while simultaneous pickets took place at Provenance-owned hotels in both San Francisco and Portland. The management at Hotel Max was extremely upset.

We will continue to take solidarity action whenever we can to support our fellow workers in Minneapolis and San Francisco.

Here is the story of our latest fight, in Alison's words:

How I Won Justice from a Deadbeat Landlord
by Alison Goodman

In September 2010 I rented a mother-in-law apartment from a woman named Jacque. I was out of town and a friend checked out the apartment. There was no written agreement, and per Jacque’s request, I sent $400 to hold the place, since it would be a month before I moved in.

When I arrived in October, I found many problems: mold in the washing machine, the toilet didn’t work, the bathroom sink didn’t drain, the dishwasher was full of dirty dishes, the general condition was filthy, the bed was torture. I spent four hours cleaning, with new discoveries of worse conditions. Jacque’s ho-hum reaction to these problems did not inspire confidence.

Here is the story of our latest fight, in Becky's words:

For the entire month of September I worked for Ciro D'Onofrio at his Italian Restaurant in Renton, Bella Napoli. During this time, Ciro was verbally abusive towards his employees and even customers. He would throw temper tantrums in front of tables and claim we were out of things on the menu simply because he did not feel like making them. He would also hire different people to come in and help out on a weekend night with no prior experience and without training. This proved to be difficult, as I was the only server, bartender, hostess, food runner, and busser.

I still had to pay rent so I continued to work for Ciro. Things got hairy when I had $110 of my bank "disappear" one night when only he and I were working. Also, I needed my check and Ciro claimed that he only paid his employees at the end of every month. I thought this was strange, especially after I had seen him give a check to the cook, but I dismissed it. What was he going to do, not pay me? As you might have guessed by now, that's exactly what happened. Ciro has made up every excuse in the book as to why he refuses to pay me the balance of $478, from a missing bottle of wine to incorrect invoices. It is clear that he never intended to pay me.

That was when I decided to call Seasol. After meeting with them we decided to inform Ciro that he had 14 days to pay up or we would start fighting back. Then for two and a half months we peacefully fliered, postered, and picketed. Meanwhile Ciro's response was consistently violent: shouting profanity, spitting at us, assaulting us, throwing water and picket signs at us and more. We went down every weekend, twice a weekend recently, keeping his restaurant empty (or nearly) for any given dinner rush we desired. And through it all our numbers grew, with fifty picketers at a recent action on December 19th.

Conversely Ciro broke down week by week. Despite sending in faulty documentation Ciro was forced to pay Labor and Industries a portion of my wages, although he still refused to pay the entire amount. His business dwindled, while our numbers and dedication grew. Finally last week, in a matter of days Ciro spent a night in jail (with assault charges pending) for attacking a group of Seasolers while they were postering; Seasol and my fight received some much deserved radio attention on KCBS 91.3’s One World Report; and most importantly, Bella Napoli Closed!!!

The day we delivered my demand letter was one of the happiest days of my life, I felt so supported and strong. With our strength and persistence we have shown, and will continue to show bosses like Ciro that they can't get away with abusing their workers. And if they resist we are ready, willing, and able to shut them down so that they can never again commit such a despicable crime against the working class. There is power in numbers and support out there if you have a similar situation. Solidarity Forever!