As workers in Seattle from the grocery, education and property services fields, we are excited to be supporting Cary Moon for Mayor. Unions representing more than 25,000 workers in the city, including hotel housekeepers, childcare providers, janitors, grocery store workers, healthcare providers, as well as school employees and educators, endorsed Cary Moon for Mayor. We have no doubt that Cary Moon is the right choice for Seattle Mayor because she has the backbone, experience, and the values to support working Seattleites and solve our city’s biggest challenges. We know Cary Moon stands with workers like us.
Cary Moon understands many of us are women, immigrants, and people of color struggling to make ends meet, pay ever-rising rents, and get to work on time on Seattle’s crowded buses and streets. She knows we work hard, both on and off the job, and we’ve already seen that she will stand strong with us against corporate interests.
We know she stands with workers because Cary Moon didn’t make excuses when asked to call on big hotels to drop their efforts to repeal voter-passed sexual harassment protections for housekeepers. And she didn’t back down when corporate interests including Amazon, Comcast, and the big hotel chains bought more than half a million in advertising against her.
We know Cary Moon stands with workers because she didn’t hesitate when we asked her to sign a letter to New Seasons Market, an expensive non-union grocery chain that treats its workers unfairly and wants to profit off gentrification in the Central District. As the city grows more expensive we need a mayor who will stand up to developers who pride themselves on kicking us out of our communities. When executives at Endeavor Capital and Lake Union Partners, New Seasons’ investors and developers, contributed to her opponent, Moon continued to stand strong.
We know Cary Moon stands with workers because she took a stand against raiding the Family and Education Levy. Then she called on the wealthiest and big corporations to pay their fair share for education through more progressive revenue sources, not more regressive sales and property taxes.
Cary Moon’s racial equity platform, her affordable housing plans, her transit and transportation solutions, her workplace fairness proposals, and her education equity policies add up to a vision of a Seattle that provides shared opportunity and success for everyone. She was the first mayoral candidate to issue proposals for a Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights, a limit on non-compete clauses, and a Freelancer Bill of Rights.
Cary Moon understands these challenges, in part because she was a single mom, she took time to help care for two parents with Alzheimer’s, and took time go back to school. As mayor, Moon has a plan to improve wage fairness for women and people of color by banning salary history demands, and improving enforcement of Washington’s Equal Pay Act.
Most importantly, Cary Moon has proven she has the courage to say difficult things to powerful people, whether it’s leading efforts to improve transit and transportation as Director of the People’s Waterfront Coalition, or calling on Mayor Ed Murray to stop attacking his accusers and resign. She’s won high awards for her courage, including the Stranger’s Genius Award and the Municipal League’s Citizen of the Year.
Cary Moon stands with workers, and we are proud to stand with the Stranger in endorsing Cary Moon for Mayor.
Teasha Karell is a PCC worker and UFCW 21 member.
Tulu Dinagde is a janitor and SEIU6 member.
Michatel Tamayo is a Seattle Public Schools teacher and SEA member.