Unionized essential workers call for Mayor Durkan to resign

SEATTLE — Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers local 21 are joining in on the call for the resignation of Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan.

The union said the recent protests in Seattle have put an impact on essential workers’ jobs.

“Many of our fellow UFCW 21 members who are essential workers have faced a choice between losing a paycheck or traveling to work during confusing curfews and consistent use of tear gas, pepper spray, and explosive devices in neighborhoods where we live and work,” said Seattle members of the UFCW 21 rank-and-file executive board Sam Dancy (QFC), Jeannette Randall (Safeway), Greg Brooks (PCC), and Amy Dayley Angell (QFC). “The distance between Mayor Durkan and the values of the membership of UFCW 21 is growing clearer each day.”

UFCW 21 represents 46,000 workers in retail, grocery stores, health care, cannabis and other industries in in the state. More than 10,000 members live or work in Seattle.

Over the weekend Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle) called for Durkan’s resignation citing an “abuse of power” amid ongoing demonstrations in the city.

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