Surprise nighttime visit makes “Thrifty” boss pay up

In November 2011, Lavon agreed to work for John Hybridge, owner of Thrifty Janitorial Services (TJS), on a month-to-month basis. During his first (and only) month there, Lavon was punctual, hardworking, and he developed good relationships with the contracts he covered. Yet, at the end of November, his paycheck was nowhere to be found.

Upset with John and needing his money to follow up on plans to propose to his (now) fiance, Lavon decided to call up a few other employees who had worked for TJS. He soon found out that many of them were only receiving partial payment, if they were paid at all. So Lavon decided to confront Mr. Hybridge about the missing pay, asserting that he needed to give Lavon his back-wages within a week. Despite agreeing to this demand, when the deadline had passed, all Lavon had to show for it was a check receipt sans the check. Facing non-payment, Lavon quit in his fifth week, citing that his obligations to his second job (that actually paid him) had become overwhelming.

Shortly thereafter, Lavon was on his way to work and happened to notice a phone pole with a flier that jumped out at him. It read, “Problems With Your Employer? Unpaid wages? Injustice at work? Call Seasol!” Previously at a loss for where to begin pursuing his absent paycheck, and aware that seeking legal help for his back-pay would be prohibitively costly, Lavon thought, “What’s the worst that can happen? Why not give it a try?” After calling and explaining the situation to a Seasol member named Michael, they decided to meet at a local coffee shop and discuss Lavon’s options/next steps. Within a week Seasol had decided to take on the fight.

After a few weeks of meetings, research, and preparation, the group was ready for the demand delivery. With some clever maneuvering, Lavon and fellow Seasol volunteer Carley had found out that John would be waxing the floors at the Burien Big 5 on the night of January 26th. With some help from another volunteer Cyan, the demand letter was written and ready to be delivered.

The night of the delivery, more than forty people gathered in the parking lot in Burien, braving the bitter cold in the name of justice for a fellow worker. The plan was to ambush John on his way into work with a frosty reception and a letter describing what he’d done wrong, and what he had to do to make the situation right. The letter also made clear that if he didn’t make good on his promise to pay Lavon, Seasol would be back to carry on the struggle. Seasol volunteers took lookout positions throughout the parking lot, and waited for John’s arrival.

After an hour had passed, it seemed like something had gone wrong. The Big 5 employees had filtered into the night, the police had come and gone letting us know that “…big crowds of people make people in Burien nervous.”, but still, no John. The group agreed to slowly disperse leaving a core group to stay behind just to be sure. Nine of ten minutes passed, minutes spent plotting out our next moves, a second attempt at John’s house in North Seattle, postering around his neighborhood, visiting his contracts around the city, fake job applicants and more.

Finally, just as we were preparing to call it a draw, who should pull over the crest of the parking lot but John and his latest cleaning crew! The rest you can see here, but suffice it to say our perseverance was rewarded. Within a week Lavon had been paid and the stress he’d endured had been handled. In his own words, “Our night in the Burien Big 5 parking lot was awesome…we did it, it was great!”

See the video here.

SeaSol stops rent ripoff after bedbug nightmare

Last summer, Cesario inquired to rent a studio in the International District. Due to poor credit, the apartment management required pre-paid rent. They accepted a security deposit and six months rent from Cesario, but failed to mention their historic building’s ongoing problem with bed bugs. It was only a few months later that a bed bug infestation made Cesario’s 125 square foot studio their home as well.

Management had the room fumigated on several occasions, and although this left a nasty chemical residue on Cesario’s possessions, it did not eradicate the bed bugs. After spending hundreds of dollars out of pocket trying to deal with these pests, Cesario decided he had to move out. He informed the manager of his intent, and only requested two months rent and his security deposit back. This simple request was quickly denied by the apartment manager. Already being a member of the Seattle Solidarity Network, Cesario knew exactly who could support him in this situation.

In early January, 34 SeaSol members descended upon the apartment complex to deliver a demand for the pre-paid rent and security deposit. When we crowded into the small entrance, the apartment manager caught a glimpse of what would be waiting for their business if they did not comply. Cesario was paid his $1000 back within two weeks.

Thanks to everybody who came to his demand delivery!

Direct action stops abusive debt collection by corporate housing giant

SeaSol’s latest victory is against a 16-billion dollar company which calls itself “one of the nation’s largest” residential landlords. A young low-income tenant named Anelise was ordered out of one of their Seattle apartments in 2009 for being unable to pay the rent after losing her housing assistance. She moved out as ordered, then arranged a $200 monthly payment plan to cover the back rent she still owed. Two years later, Anelise had paid off her entire back-rent debt for the months she had lived in the apartment, but the company still was not satisfied. They demanded thousands more from her, claiming she owed them rent for all the months when the apartment had sat empty after they’d kicked her out. If she didn’t keep paying, they’d ruin her credit and make it difficult to find housing in the future.

Anelise decided to fight back. Not only was she furious at the injustice, but having recently lost her job, she simply could no longer afford to keep paying the company rent for time when she had not even lived in their building. She joined SeaSol, and we agreed to take on her fight. On September 29th, 2011, thirty people marched with her into the corporate office in Belltown to present our demand: back off and leave Anelise alone, and cancel any further debt that she allegedly owed.

The company’s response, on October 11th, was to flatly refuse to drop any of the alleged debt, to threaten to send the debt to a third-party collection agency, and to say that our “tactics…will not be tolerated.”

So we escalated our campaign. We picketed their offices. Whenever the Executive Vice President showed up at industry and charity events, our people were there to embarrass and denounce him. When potential renters went to view the company’s apartments, they were greeted by vast numbers of posters saying “WARNING RENTERS!!” and detailing the company’s unscrupulous practices.

After two months of this, the company had had enough. They signed an agreement formally dropping all claims of further debt owed by Anelise.

Thanks to everyone who helped SeaSol and Anelise win this fight!

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.