Author Archives: Seattle Solidarity Network

SeaSol supports fired outspoken Whole Foods worker

On the evening of Wednesday, December 21st, Seattle Solidarity Network held a loud and lively picket in solidarity with Natalia, a member of the East Bay Solidarity Network and a former worker at the Whole Foods in San Francisco. After 13 years without incident, Whole Foods fired Natalia for tapping a co-worker’s hat.This co-worker did not report the incident and was taken aback when he heard that Natalia had been fired. He and Natalia worked closely together in the prepared foods department for over 5 years without any issues whatsoever.

Natalia had reached the wage cap of $19 per hour and was universally liked and respected by her co-workers. She often spoke out against injustices she witnessed in the workplace and acted as a translator for Spanish language speakers in the store. SeaSol is proud to stand with Natalia, the East Bay Solidarity Network, and many others across the country who are demanding Natalia’s reinstatement, with full back pay.

Please support this campaign by contacting Whole Foods Regional President David Lannon, demanding they reinstate Natalia with full back pay: david.lannon@wholefoods.com or calling 510-428-7400.

SeaSol Takes on the Low Income Housing Institute

SeaSol’s months long dispute with the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) and executive director Sharon Lee has turned nasty. LIHI accuses SeaSol of racism, and has produced fraudulent photographs to discredit SeaSol and our member at the heart of the fight, George Berumen. This statement is to clear SeaSol’s record and to present the actual facts of the dispute.

George Against the Giant

In June of 2011, SeaSol was contacted by George Berumen, a former tenant of the Frye Apartments, an historic hotel managed by the Low Income Housing Institute. George met with SeaSol, became a member, and told us his story, backed by copious documentation including letters to and from LIHI. George had been wronged by LIHI. While a tenant at the Frye, his apartment was routinely filled with fumes he believed was smoke from crack cocaine, fumes that were making him feel sick. George repeatedly tried to bring his situation to the attention of the Frye manager and LIHI staff, but he says they didn’t believe him and failed to resolve the situation to his satisfaction. At this point, in April of 2011, he decided to move out into a homeless shelter rather than continue to endanger his health at the apartment.

After leaving the Frye, LIHI hit George with a bill for cleaning fees totaling $139.50, and withheld George’s deposit and advance rent totaling $99. These bogus charges are at the heart of SeaSol’s dispute with LIHI. While LIHI offers no justification whatsoever for its continuing to withhold George’s security deposit and advance rent, they claim that the cleaning fees are justified. They say it took Frye staff nine hours to clean a ten-foot by twenty-foot apartment, and have produced photos to show the state of the apartment after George’s departure. However, these photos are fraudulent.

Fraudulent Photographs

On October 21st, we received an email from LIHI CEO Sharon Lee that included six photos, with filenames “Berumen Unit 1” through “Berumen Unit 6”. As we later learned, she sent the same photos to Real Change News, which describes them in a front-page article published October 26.

Four of the six photos merely show a few personal items left behind on otherwise clean shelves and tabletops – hardly something to require nine hours worth of cleanup, as LIHI has claimed. But the other two, named “Berumen Unit 4” and “Berumen Unit 6”, show filthy stove burners and a filthy bathroom floor and toilet.

Those photos are fraudulent, as you can see in the images below. The photo on the left was produced by LIHI, and claims to be of the bathroom in George’s apartment, 302. The one on the right is a still from video obtained by SeaSol and George of apartment 302.

real302toiletfake302toilet

These images are clearly of different bathrooms. In the first, the wall is to the left of the toilet; in the second image, which actually represents the bathroom of George’s apartment, the toilet is bounded by a wall on the right.

The complete video is available on YouTube.

The video we obtained is corroborated by publicly available floor plans of the Frye third floor. Linked here are the plans for the entire floor. Below are details of the plans highlighting apartment 302, George’s apartment, which show that in that apartment the toilet should be bounded by a wall on the right.

floorplanclip

Check for yourself: we’ve posted the floor plans from 1998 and 2001.

Finally, we noticed a discrepancy in the camera-generated “date taken” label within the photo files Sharon Lee sent: while the other four photos indicate they were taken on April 27th, the day that George moved out, those of the dirty stove top and bathroom indicate they were taken on April 11th, more than two weeks earlier. It appears that these two were older photos taken from a different apartment, which Sharon Lee found and renamed to “Berumen Unit 4” and “Berumen Unit 6”.

Sharon Lee’s use of inaccurate photographs to discredit George and SeaSol is a disgrace to the history of LIHI. However, even if the photos were legitimate, it is unjustifiable to charge George for nine hours of cleaning for such a small space. Either LIHI cannot properly manage its facilities, or the charges are bogus. Either way, George is not responsible for them.

LIHI takes fight to the gutter

Sharon Lee’s use of fraudulent photographs is just the tip of the iceberg. Throughout George’s dispute with LIHI and Sharon Lee, they have proved over and again their willingness to use dishonest tactics to discredit the legitimate claims of a former tenant.

Sharon Lee recently told Real Change news reporter Rosette Royale she first learned of the dispute through a series of posters SeaSol had distributed in Belltown. In fact, twenty SeaSol members personally delivered a letter addressed to Ms. Lee on June 28th describing the situation as we understood it. The letter gave Sharon Lee and LIHI two weeks to respond to resolve the situation. Sharon Lee and LIHI ignored us; they did not respond at all. LIHI produced no evidence at this time to challenge our assertions of the situation, or to move to seek an amicable resolution.

After two weeks, SeaSol began a poster campaign in the neighborhood of LIHI’s administrative offices, and we staged a small picket outside. LIHI finally decided to respond, by sending a threatening letter from the law offices of Puckett and Redford, a firm specializing in representing the interests of large landlords and property managers. The letter threatened to sue George, newly homeless and staying in a shelter, if he did not stop the campaign. These are hardly the actions of a group with a “sense of mission and…commitment to social justice.”

At this point, SeaSol and George learned that one of our claims around the manufacture of drugs in the adjacent apartment could not be independently corroborated, and we withdrew it from our future literature, posters, and press releases. But we continued to picket and poster at the LIHI offices and at LIHI properties throughout the city.

After the threatened lawsuit failed, LIHI and Sharon Lee changed tack. In an August 24th letter, LIHI invited George and SeaSol to discuss the issue in a face to face meeting. At that meeting, held on September 13th, Sharon Lee came into negotiations with a police escort, and proceeded to berate our members for exercising first amendment protected activities. Ms. Lee then promised to send us photographs of George’s apartment, but reneged on her promise, producing them only to the Real Change reporter a full month and a half after our request, and only one day before the article was set to print. (These are the photographs we soon learned were of another apartment). At the conclusion of our September meeting, Ms. Lee stubbornly refused to resolve the situation.

Deceit and Cynicism in “Racist” LIHI Press Release

As their twentieth anniversary celebration approached, LIHI and Sharon Lee intensified their attack on George and SeaSol. In an October 19th press release on LIHI letterhead, Sharon Lee called SeaSol racist on completely spurious and cynical grounds. LIHI argued that because SeaSol took the side of George, who they repeatedly identified as a white man in the press release, we must be racist. However, George is Latino. It is unlikely having met George at the September 13th meeting that Ms. Lee did not know this. We wonder if Ms. Lee’s identification of George as a white man was a cynical ploy, counting on the fact that his name “reads white,” to slander a dedicated social justice organization.

The second ground for LIHI’s racism claim is that SeaSol distributed posters in the International District. Sharon Lee’s highlighting of ID postering as evidence of our supposed racism is ridiculous. The ID is a heavily trafficked neighborhood just a few blocks from the Frye apartments. Sharon Lee also knew at the time that we postered in many other neighborhoods in Seattle, including Belltown, the University District, Ballard, and elsewhere. We have a proud history of fighting racism, taking on fights for people of color, and at times including anti-racist demands as part of our campaigns – as our website attests. Furthermore, we are a multi-racial organization, and seek to end racism through organizing all peoples to work together to empower and support each other. The claims of racism made against us are incredible.

Sharon Lee Supporter Threatens to Kill SeaSol Member

SeaSol members have now twice been threatened during our dispute with LIHI. In the most recent incident, a SeaSol member putting up posters in Sharon Lee’s neighborhood in the evening was pushed, threatened, and followed by the unidentified man in this video (YouTube). The assailant can clearly be heard saying “I will find you and I will kill you.”

In another incident, seen in the next video, a man we later learned was Sharon Lee’s boyfriend tried to intimidate members during an August picket line. His behavior was caught on video (YouTube).

In this incident the boyfriend stood immediately in the face of members, calling them obscene names, like “a fucking asshole” and “motherfucker,” and encouraging members to “take a swing” at him. At one point he claimed we had assaulted him and called the police. However, there was no assault – except his verbal abuse and attempt to intimidate our members. We believe his actions were designed to provoke violence on our picket line.

We hold Sharon Lee and LIHI responsible for the climate that led to both of these attacks. In the case of the intimidation from her boyfriend, the assailant and Ms. Lee have a direct personal relationship. In the case of the assault from her supporter, Sharon Lee and LIHI have produced a climate of vitriol against SeaSol. In numerous handbills, press releases, statements to the media and her supporters, Sharon Lee has called us “racists,” “liars,” “bullies,” and “extortionists.” This rhetoric has produced a situation where individuals may feel justified taking violent action against our members.

SeaSol takes any threat of violence very seriously. We have taken precautions to protect our members from those who wish to do us violence at future actions. The methods and tactics of Lee, LIHI, and their supporters are deplorable.

Sharon Lee Embarrasses LIHI

The repeated history of such dishonest and outrageous behavior is a discredit to the history and tradition of LIHI, an organization that bases its principles on tenant self-management and social justice. Instead, Ms. Lee’s and LIHI’s behavior has been unethical from the beginning. George and SeaSol have justice on our side; we will not give up until George gets the money he is owed.

Solidarity wins against marine shop boss

In February 2011, Dominic was working at an industrial marine repair shop in Kent when an out-of-control piece of equipment smashed into his truck in the parking lot. He asked for compensation from the company, but got nothing. This put him in a terrible position, since his wages at the shop were so low that he could not afford the repair bill. Soon they laid him off. When he finally took his ex-employer to small claims court, they signed a mediated agreement to settle for $900 compensation within one month, and it looked like the issue was finally settled. Then a month went by, and another, and the $900 never arrived.

One day Dominic called the company’s owner to ask when he would get the compensation. “I will never pay you,” the owner replied, “because I always win.”

So Dominic joined SeaSol and prepared for action. On September 21st, 30 of us walked with him into the company’s office to present our demand that they honor their agreement. After another week went by with no response, we began contacting local marine-industry companies, two per day, warning them not to do business with Dominic’s former employer. Meanwhile we began preparing to escalate the pressure with more aggressive action against the company. Then on October 11th, the company called Dominic to say they were ready to settle. Dominic received his $900 that same night.

Thanks to everyone who participated in helping Dominic win his fight! He’ll be there for yours.

Direct action makes Chase bank pay

When longtime SeaSol member Neftali needed Canadian money for a trip to visit family, he went to a downtown Chase bank branch, near his work.  There, what should have been a simple transaction turned into a nightmare. Although he came prepared with his Chase debit card and PIN, his valid temporary driver’s license, and his expired license, none of it was enough.  He was hassled, questioned aggressively, and told he needed to go home and bring in his passport to prove his identity – or perhaps it was his immigration status? Neftali, who is a dual U.S./Mexican citizen, was furious at this treatment and demanded to speak to the manager.  Finally, they allowed him to complete the transaction. He took the Canadian cash and left for his vacation, thinking the whole awful Chase experience was behind him. But it was just beginning. He soon realized, to his shock, that the stack of bills Chase had given him contained $1,000 less than it was supposed to.

Once back in Seattle, Neftali confronted Chase management about the missing money. They wouldn’t believe him. He asked to see the surveillance video of the transaction, but they refused to let him see it, despite admitting that it existed and that the teller had broken bank policy in the way the money had been handled.

So on May 31st, Neftali marched back into the bank together with thirty other SeaSol members. Our demand: either give Neftali his missing $1,000, or else show the video footage to prove their claim that they’d handed him the correct amount.

After two weeks went by with no response from Chase, we started turning on the pressure. We covered the area around the branch with posters warning customers, “Banking with Chase? Count it twice!”. Chase kept ripping them down, so we kept reposting them continually over the next three months. Meanwhile we picketed the branch twice, then expanded our pickets to cover four other downtown Chase branches. The posters began featuring a large photo of the branch manager’s face. Chase still wouldn’t yield, so we began looking for ways to pressure higher-level company officials. When the Chamber of Commerce invited Chase’s northwest regional CEO to address a “Young Professionals” event, SeaSol’ers were there leafleting the crowd while wearing mocking signs with her face printed on them.

Finally, after one more noisy multi-bank-branch picket, Chase’s District Manager arranged a meeting with Neftali to discuss resolving the dispute. The manager wanted to meet with him one-on-one behind closed doors, but Neftali insisted on bringing two other SeaSol members to back him up.  At the meeting, the district manager delivered a lecture about how upset he and his colleagues were about this conflict and our tactics, and about how Chase admitted no wrongdoing. Then he handed Neftali a check for $1,000.
Thanks to everyone who took part in the actions that brought about this victory! We proved that when we’re united and determined, even enemies as gigantic as JPMorgan Chase are not invulnerable.

Victory vs home care pay theft

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.