Service Employees International Union Local 925 and the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO are excited to announce that SEIU 925 has reaffiliated with the WSLC, bringing over 19,000 more worker voices into Washington State’s largest labor organization.
SEIU 925 unites 19,000 people in Washington who work in education from early learning through college and beyond, as well as members who work in local government and nonprofits.
The WSLC, widely considered the voice of labor in Washington State, is a federation of more that 600 local unions representing over half a million people from the Peninsula to the Palouse. A voluntary coalition and homebase for solidarity, the WSLC fights for the rights and dignity of all working people.
“2025 offers many opportunities to build power for working people, as well as challenges to overcome,” said April Sims. “Labor’s solidarity has always been our biggest strength. The WSLC is excited to welcome SEIU 925 into our federation, to learn from 925’s creativity in organizing, and to join together empowering working people and building a Washington that works for all of us.”
Earlier in January, the AFL-CIO announced that SEIU International had rejoined the federation, bringing 2 million more workers into the now 15 million-strong labor family of the AFL-CIO. Here in Washington state, organized labor is riding a wave of momentum as 2025 promises new challenges and opportunities.
“SEIU 925 is growing, and workers are organizing in innovative ways,” said Tricia Schroeder, SEIU 925 President. “We’re really excited to join with unions across the state at this pivotal moment in the labor movement.”
SEIU 925 has long been a partner of the WSLC and its affiliated unions, particularly in shared efforts to advance pro-worker policies in the State Legislature. In the 2025 session, the WSLC and SEIU 925 are working in unison to advance a comprehensive slate of bills, in collaboration with Washington’s broader labor movement. This work includes powerful legislation to address the affordability crisis facing childcare workers, and other low-wage workers, like providing unemployment insurance (UI) for striking workers and establishing a child care workforce standards board.
UI for striking workers encourages good faith bargaining by limiting employers’ ability to use workers’ economic hardship as a negotiating strategy. Low-wage workers can’t win better wages and achieve economic security without a contract – but too often, they can’t secure a contract because their employers won’t negotiate, instead relying on workers’ economic precarity to keep workers from withholding their labor. Extending UI to striking workers interrupts this vicious cycle.
The child care crisis is driven by a workforce shortage: wages are low and benefits minimal if any, and child care providers tend to leave the industry for better working conditions in other fields. A bill creating a statewide Child Care Workforce Standards Board will bring workers, employers, parents, and agencies to a table to make rules that raise standards in the child care industry. Workforce standards boards have been successfully used in peer states to improve working conditions for similar industries — including nursing homes and domestic workers.
“But it’s never been done in child care,” Schroeder said. “We have the opportunity to be the leaders in transforming child care as a profession.”
“What we do here in Washington could set an example for other states, and create better opportunities for working people and our families across the country,” said Sims.