UAW 4121 will be endorsing candidates for the Seattle City Council District 4 (U-District) race! As it comes time to elect a new city council, this is a time for us to think critically about electing a representative who will fight for the issues that affect our lives in Seattle, in and out of the workplace.
From Monday (3/25) through Wednesday (3/27) Local 4121 members will have the opportunity to vote in our straw poll for one of the candidates running for Seattle City Council in District 4. Voting will take place online via email starting at 9:00 a.m. Monday and will end at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday. You will be sent an email with the subject line “Seattle City Council District 4 Straw Poll.”
All UAW 4121 members have the right to vote. Are you eligible to join the union (Academic Student Employee at UW or enrolled in a graduate degree program), and haven’t yet? Sign up here! You can also email political@uaw4121.org if you are a member and did not receive your link to the poll.
Candidate questionnaires
Candidates answer member questions
On March 21 and 22, four candidates sat and recorded videos answering questions posed by members of UAW 4121.
1. Why Are You Running?
Ethan Hunter
Emily Myers
Joshua Newman
Shaun Scott
2. Why do you want the endorsement of UAW 4121?
Ethan Hunter
Emily Myers
Joshua Newman
Shaun Scott
3. There is a growing housing affordability problem here in Seattle. How do you plan to address this as a City Councilor? What will you do to reduce the rising cost of living in the city? How will you address the homelessness “problem”?
Ethan Hunter
Emily Myers
Joshua Newman
Shaun Scott
4. Last year the City Council passed and then repealed a head tax on big businesses meant to raise revenue for helping deal with the problem of housing affordability. How would you try to make sure that businesses that are gentrifying neighborhoods do their fair share when trying to help people live in the city? How will you hold major businesses in Seattle accountable to their workers?
Ethan Hunter
Emily Myers
Joshua Newman
Shaun Scott
5. What’s your stance on strengthening union rights, in particular making longer and even more mandatory union orientations? Have you ever given a union orientation to new members?
Ethan Hunter
Emily Myers
Joshua Newman
Shaun Scott
6. There has been increasing attention to the role of local-level policies in fueling mass incarceration and expanding the carceral state. Do you view the city council as having a role in ending mass incarceration? If so, as a council member, what actions would you take or what policies would you support to work toward dismantling the carceral state?
Ethan Hunter
Emily Myers
Joshua Newman
Shaun Scott
7. What is a reasonable renewable energy goal the city of Seattle should attain in the next 5-10 years?
Ethan Hunter
Emily Myers
Joshua Newman
Shaun Scott
8. What will you do to reduce the risk associated with opioid abuse and other drug related problems?
Ethan Hunter
Emily Myers
Joshua Newman
Shaun Scott
9. What will you do to make sure Seattle remains a sanctuary city to protect immigrants?
Ethan Hunter
Emily Myers
Joshua Newman
Shaun Scott
10. Historically, the socialist left has represented America’s most consistent base of support for organized labor. Organizer and labor scholar Jane McAlevey locates the beginning of American labor’s decline in the 1950s purge of communists from the CIO. Locally, socialist Councilmember Sawant has been UAW 4121’s most consistent and dedicated ally in city politics. Do you identify as a socialist? Why or why not?
Ethan Hunter
Emily Myers
Joshua Newman
Shaun Scott