Final push for Manka Dhingra
This is it. One final weekend for Washington voters to fill out their ballots and return them by Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
That means union members will be volunteering this weekend for get-out-the-vote efforts for Manka Dhingra in the 45th District state Senate race.
We are having our final door knock for Manka Dhingra this coming Sunday, Nov. 5, 10AM @ 8151 164th Ave NE, Redmond, WA 98052. This is it!
Immediately following the canvas Manka will be hosting a volunteer appreciation lunch and livestream of the Seahawks game! Wear your WFSE and/or Seahawks gear!
Remember, Daylight Savings Times ends Sunday so set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed Saturday night. You wouldn’t want to show up at the wrong time for Sunday’s big door knock for Manka!
Also this weekend: The WSLC’s final Labor Neighbor walk is tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 4). Meet at 10 a.m. at the Teamsters hall, 14675 Interurban Ave, in Tukwila. Email April Sims, WSLC Field Mobilization Director, or call her at 253-441-5113 to RSVP or if you have questions. Details: http://www.thestand.org/2017/11/volunteer-saturday-in-final-push-for-manka
Why is the 45th Legislative District Senate so important to all state employees and working families?
- Well, Manka Dhingra is simply the best candidate and will be an asset to the state Senate and Legislature. Manka Dhingra, a King County Prosecutor, is the proven pro-worker leader we can trust to end the gridlock in Olympia, reinvest in our public services and healthcare, and create an economy that works for everyone.
- Her election will bring in a new majority in the Senate to end the gridlock that’s choked Olympia most of this past decade. That includes the majority’s illegal attempts to not only reject our contracts but also unilaterally change them and/or dictate the terms of any re-negotiations. And on this Day 196 of the state Capital Construction Budget held hostage by the current Senate majority, Manka Dhingra and a more enlightened Senate majority will end that scandalous impasse. Even the Seattle Times, which didn’t endorse Dhingra, agreed saying the House had proposed a compromise that Senate “GOP leaders should have accepted.”
- Finally, the election of Manka Dhingra and a new Senate majority could break the logjam on the last outstanding issue in our new contracts. We negotiated a provision to expand shared leave for pregnancy disability and parental leave. But it required a change in the law. That bill, SHB 1434, passed the House 68-30 but like the Capital Construction Budget stalled for no good reason in the Senate. The bill is still alive and has a better change of passing if a new Senate majority in place when legislators return to Olympia in January.
SHB 1434 would “make state government just a little more family-friendly” the Federation’s Dennis Eagle testified earlier this year. It would expand the shared leave program for pregnancy or parental bonding. Specifically, the bill would allow shared leave by an employee who is sick or temporarily disabled because of a pregnancy disability or for the purpose of parental leave. And the bill defines parental leave as meaning leave to bond and care for a newborn child after birth or for a child after placement for adoption or foster care for a period of up to 16 weeks after the birth or placement. Pregnancy disability would be defined as a pregnancy-related medical condition or miscarriage.
So, yes, the election of Manka Dhingra to the 45th District Senate seat is a big deal. It could end political game playing on our contracts and in the very short term end gridlock on the Capital Construction Budget and the legislation needed to allow the provision from bargaining on the family-friendly shared leave bill.
