WSLC: ‘Hope Is a Radical Act of Resistance’
Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO President April Sims and Secretary Treasurer Cherika Carter issued the following statement on the 2024 Election:
The election of Donald Trump is a gut punch for Americans committed to unity, equality, and workers’ rights. Eight years ago when he was first elected, many of us were paralyzed by our grief over the direction of this country. As we face those same emotions today, we cannot let our grief hold us back from action. We know Trump’s playbook; we can and we will organize to defeat it.
We have strategies to win. Much like the strategy during the civil rights movement to fight violence with anti-violence, we fight hate and anger with love and joy. The labor movement remains a place of unity, a place of community, and a place of hope. In this moment, hope is a radical act of resistance.
And yet, we cannot deny that fascism, fueled by racism and misogyny, has been leveraged to divide and weaken working people. But our movement was built to fight the forces that seek to undermine democracy and enslave the human soul; we are made for times like these.
And we know how we fight back. Washingtonians elected Bob Ferguson as Governor and Nick Brown as Attorney General, strong advocates who will defend our rights against all attacks. We are posed to successfully defeated anti-worker initiatives. And we elected dozens of pro-worker legislators who will ensure they use their power to protect all Washingtonians.
Through the Washington State Labor Council’s GOTV program, union members knocked on more than 33,000 doors and made more than 107,000 calls to mobilize workers, through the leadership of our Political & Strategic Campaign Director Osta Davis. This worker-to-worker effort is a model for how we will organize together to protect working communities.
Anti-worker politicians benefit when we give into fear and division. Our movement includes people with diverse political views; no matter our differences, we all want safe communities and secure futures for our families. We will remain united to protect one another and build power for working people. Resiliency is in our DNA.
April Sims, President, Washington State Labor Council, AFl-CIO
Cherika Carter, Secretary Treasurer, Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO
The Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO is the largest union organization in the state, representing more than 600 local union organizations with over half a million rank-and-file members. For more information, visit www.wslc.org.
A service of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO (WSLC) and its affiliated unions, The STAND was launched on May Day 2011 to feature news about — and for — working people. Its reports and opinion columns focus on creating and maintaining quality jobs, joining together in unions, improving our families’ quality of life, and promoting public policies that will restore shared prosperity.