Kshama Sawant (who ran as a Socialist winning a seat on Seattle's City Counci)l was arrested at a protest against a lawsuit by Alaska Airlines attempting to exempt SeaTac Airport from the new Minimum Wage law in the city of Seatac which includes the airport run by the Port of Seattle.
Seattle city councilmember Sawant arrested during protest
Sawant was with airport workers and their supporters protesting outside Alaska Airlines' headquarters Wednesday evening. Those protesting say they're upset about what they say is the airline's support of a lawsuit filed against the Port of Seattle over the port's decision to increase the minimum wage for some workers at Sea-Tac Airport.
The protest started in the parking lot, but moved into the street and was blocking International Boulevard. That's when police told the protestors to move.
Some refused to budge, including Sawant, and after ignoring another police warning, they were taken into custody.
"We've made enormous progress in the fight against income inequality and the fight for decent living standards for workers," Sawant said as she sat in handcuffs on a patrol car. "We've got to do this."
Working Washington, the group organizing the protest, said the three others arrested were a current Sea-Tac Airport worker, a former airport worker and a reverend at a S. Seattle church.
The Seattle suburb of Seatac made news by raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour last June. Many of Seatac's residents work at low paying service jobs at the airport. Last year Alaska Airlines filed a lawsuit in an attempt to prevent the city law from applying to property owned by the Port of Seattle which operates the airport. That suit was unsuccessful so now the airline industry trade group Airlines for America is suing to halt wage hikes mandated by the Port of Seattle itself.
Councilwoman Kshama Sawant arrested in $15 wage protest
“Did you hear about Alaska Airlines' latest attempt to block thousands of airport workers from getting higher wages?” a Wednesday message to 15 Now supporters read. “Their big national airline lobby group has filed a Federal lawsuit, claiming that the Port of Seattle doesn't have the power to set minimum wages at the airport.
“That might sound familiar, because last year Alaska sued in state court, claiming SeaTac voters don't have the power to raise wages either. And all this after they spent big bucks trying to keep SeaTac Proposition 1 off the ballot, and then campaigning unsuccessfully to vote $15 down.”
Sawant has been an outspoken supporter of the $15 Now movement, and last year became the first socialist elected to the Seattle City Council.
Airlines for America, a group that advocates for the American airline industry, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Seattle Nov. 10 to stop the Port of Seattle from “unlawfully imposing wage, hiring and training requirements on airlines and their employees that conflict with federal and state laws, and importantly, mutually negotiated labor agreements,” according to a group statement.
With Americans' wages stagnant over the last decade even as prices continue to rise we should expect to see more fed up Americans resorting to civil disobedience to circumvent the broken two party system controlled by the 0.01%.