Whatcom-Skagit Industrial Workers of the World

The Whatcom-Skagit Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, or Wobblies) is organized to help workers gain their rights and more power in their workplaces, form unions that are member-controlled,  to support one another in our efforts, and to spread solidarity around the region. Our branch was chartered by the IWW General Administration in January, 2015.

IWW is a dues-paying, membership controlled union and solidarity organization. Dues are low and based on income. All workers are urged to join us, one-by-one or by the whole shop. See the Join IWW page to learn about membership. We especially seek food service and retail workers to join us and help spread our organization into those industries.

ACTIVITIES

Whatcom-Skagit IWW membership continues to grow. Our members include cooks, bartenders, baristas, roofers, bookkeepers, teachers, warehouse workers, legal workers, musicians, students and retired people. Many of us have taken an Organizing Training course (offered by the Organizing Board of the IWW). Some members are organizing in their workplaces. In 2015 we walked picket lines for other unions (for example, the United Steelworkers 12-591 at Tesoro in Anacortes, and SEIU 1199NW hospital workers at Saint Josephs in Bellingham). We look forward to having our own IWW shops organized. We have a seat on the Northwest Washington Central Labor Council. and may be the only IWW branch anywhere represented on a CLC. Before the famous victory of the Familias Unidas por la Justicia farmworkers union at Sakuma Bros. Farms, we marched, boycotted and picketed in solidarity.