Logan Swan – Ironworkers Local 86
My union already has paid parking in our contract, but legislation like this takes it off the negotiating table so we can focus on improved pay and benefits. All unions should support initiatives like this, that benefit all workers, because a rising tide lifts all boats and this will show non-union workers how they too benefit from a strong labor movement.
Agnes Wurz – Local 30
No one should have to pay $500 a month just to be able to work.
Ricky Yazzie –
Because I can’t afford it
Josh Stavee – Local 41
Parking can be a substantial impact to my weekly earnings. Either cap parking or help with the financial burden
Stacey Kelley –
Parking gets out of hand and can go up with no notice because of events and cost more then a days of work.
Liam Dennehy – Carpenter (non-union) AGC
contractors should pay 100% of parking costs because workers often have to front out 100’s of dollars a week just to be able to work
Rachel Ravitch –
As a construction project manager working for a small GC, our carpenters & field teams NEVER paid for parking while on the clock. Our subcontractors also typically billed for parking. This should be standard across the industry and it is ridiculous to think that crews would be required to pay for these JOB costs. Parking costs are very high in cities and carpenters & field teams need their trucks which carry their job tools which they are also required to maintain on their own. The small GC company I worked at (Mallet Design Build) also had a tool program to help with tool costs. If small GCs can afford to cover these costs, big GCs can afford to cover these costs. After all, it was the customer who paid these costs, not the GC. Big developers and land owners can afford to pay these costs. Our company mostly served small businesses who paid all of these costs.
Avery Bento –
Because parking in downtown Seattle is expensive, especially considering the amount of tools and equipment that construction workers are required to haul and keep safe.
Ebony Johnson – UBC
We shouldn’t have to work overtime just to pay for parking.
Gerry Alferes –
500 a week out of pocket is extremely outrageous.
Mohamed majidate –
Low wages everything going expensive
Nathan Riley – Carpenter’s Union
If you are not providing something as simple as parking for your workers who are traveling for miles and a portion of them over an hour or two of time, wouldn’t most people consider that taking advantage of a vulnerable population? That is a crime against people who happen to be disabled, elderly, and children. Why should any other situation be seen as different? Especially by those who have the profit margins to easily handle things of this sort out of consideration and respect, rather than neglect. When it comes to humanity, we need to request, expect, and redirect focus of everyone to do better.
Gary Merritt Jr. – IBEW
Workers already do not earn enough in wages and benefits, and now they’re expected to pay for parking to work as well? That cost should be covered by the bosses.
Cody McPike – Carpenters union
It’s ridiculous to have to pay 300-500+$ a month just to go to work. It’s outrageous!
Kris Hutchins –
As an independent Seattle subcontractor, I constantly have to factor in the cost of transportation and parking. These costs can significantly eat into individual workers’ bottom lines. In a city that has already extracted so much from us due to relentless rent increases, inflated home prices, skyrocketing cost of living, etc., taking this step to ensure that the working people who makes Seattle run and grow aren’t further disadvantaged is critical.
Kyle Davis –
They are the ones making money off the labor and effort of the workers, the least they can do is make sure those workers can commute to the job and part without stress, hassle, and additional charges.
Edward Agyman –
It’s just fair. And the right thing
Colin Moen – IBEW 46
Construction workers commute long hours to get to work in Seattle because most of them can’t afford to own a home or raise a family here. With corporate developers raking in billions of dollars during the Seattle construction boom, there is no excuse for them not to provide parking for their employees.
Douglas Maestas – IBEW 46
I am an apprentice and 100+ a week is a huge hit to my take home pay. I can barely afford that without making other sacrifices in life. You want me to build these buildings then they should have to provide free parking
Joel Pinzon – Local 1
It’s the right thing for a worker. I believe the companies has to include everything on the job estimate.
Jesus Fonseca –
No one should have to pay 30 dollars a day to work
Eric Darby – Local 70 Burlington Washington
Parking is costing as much as a car payment and putting a huge financial stress on workers trying to provide for their families.
Avory Tedtaotao – Carpenters
We travel 1 hours + to go to a job. Pay for parking. That takes over 300 out of our check every week. It’s becoming too much. We make our sacrifice to support our contractors. They should do the same.
Estera Stanus-Ghib – Local 70 Carpenters
We already can’t afford to live close to where we build we can not afford to pay to park in the cities we’re building in. Many cannot save money with cost of living and paying for gas and parking to work. We’re unable to afford houses. America’s middle class is getting suffocated and continuing to become snuffed out. Who will the regular consumer base become when the middle class becomes non-existent.
Jesse Malinowski – IBEW Local 46
When us workers finally get paid all we deserve, the boss will be broke and to work they will turn.
Jason Skipper – IUOE Local 302
The cost of parking downtown is very high and amounts to a significant pay cut. The contractors can pay for this accommodation instead of passing it on to the workers.
Olivia Lauifi – Local 86
Parking at the job we work at shouldn’t come out of our pocket.
Colleen Paull – Piledrivers Local # 2396 (in the past)
Because contractors are making millions and maybe billions off the backs of construction workers. They can better pay the parking while the workers barely make a liveable wage and paying the parking is a way to alleviate some stress on the workers! Please do the right thing and support the very hard working people who are building Seattle and our future.
Shane McMurray – Local 70
It’s expensive. Being a Foreman running multiple jobs can be worse, because you can’t take advantage of early bird specials. I once paid $70 and got 2 tickets in one day. That’s $160.
Amanda Guzman – Local 528
I have too many tools to take public transportation. I live too far from my sites to get there in time on public transportation.
Arthur Esparza – Carpenters LU30
We shouldn’t have to pay a fine or a tax everyday to go to work! We all have to drive and park to bring our tools in. This should be built into contractor’s bids with the developers.
Amanda Rossmeier – Local 86
I get paid parking and feel my trades brothers should get the same.
Derek Langhorst – Carpenters union Local 41
It can cost upwards of 60-120 dollars a week for the average carpenter just to go to work. We work to live- not live to work. These huge corporations are paying hundreds of millions of dollars on many of these multimillion dollar projects and yet they can’t afford for us to go there to build it for them? It’s absolutely ABSURD and it’s a COMPLETE JOKE. Our union leadership and our EST (treasurer) Evelyn Shapiro has proven she does not care about us by turning away Kshama Sawant’s help to fight for us construction workers to have a higher quality of life. It makes me angry and as she runs our own union and it’s members into the ground as she signs backdoor sweetheart deals with the same corrupt people who fight us for wage increases that don’t even meet the cost of living increase alone. It’s simple to see that Evelyn and the carpenters union leadership flat out doesn’t care for us and only cares about her 250k dollar salary and double pension and the only way she can continue to reap those benefits is by crushing her own members and forcing them into voting yes on these terrible contracts that the majority of our union has voted down multiple times now. It’s simple, Evelyn thinks we’re being greedy for asking for reasonable wage increases and fully paid parking and Kshama Sawant thinks that’s something we’ve earned already through our hard work and devotion to these scumbag contractors.
Bryan Lynch – IBEW Local 46
We should not have to pay to park at work. Hands down.
Jaymison Belew – IBEW LOCAL 46
Why wouldn’t they?
John Beavers –
I’ve worked for years in Seattle. I’ve taken the ferry from Bremerton and had to pay for parking, but all the office staff management etc., all receive free parking . Then on the chance i forgot to pay the fines are so out of control. I think if they paid parking that would be fair.
Jeffrey Olszewski –
Workers shouldn’t have to pay to earn money to support our families. I have heard nurses have same issue with hospitals.
Eric Swanson – Union Member
It’s a huge hardship to have to pay these outrageous parking lots to just go to work. It needs to stop.
Joshua Steele – Local 41
Because we’re there to do a job for them. The least they can do is provide parking four their workers. Every single other job I’ve had prior to working in the union has provided parking. Besides, isn’t street parking considered public anyways? Shouldn’t parking be free in general?
Craig Wolters – Carpenter local 70
Almost all the other trades have their parking paid. Parking is ridiculous at least put a reasonable cap on the rates.
Trevor McGuire –
It is a cost of doing business, not a cost of going to work. Mass transit isn’t an option for construction workers. We work before bus lines start, night shifts and carry tools and are often very dirty after work. It makes no sense the construction workers should have to pay parking in lots and garages that we build.
Tylar Farnsworth – Northwest carpenters local 129
It is a major expense on top of the long commute times and inflated gas prices/taxes. We struggle to fund these expenses while the billion dollar developers continue to make a fortune off the sweat on our backs.
Robert Cox –
It should be included in the bud of the job and not the responsibility of the worker to pay!
Harry Baker – Carpenters Local 70
We carry a lot of hand tools bags harnesses ect.The personnel equipment required to perform our work activities. We also work various hours so transportation to work is so important if you want to stay employed It’s difficult to find parking especially near a construction job where all the immediate open areas are consumed quickly I have had coworkers that drive to work hours early to get a better price or location on top of tremendous hours already working. The contractors need to supply or reimburse for parking. After all they’re the employers.
Holger Mathews –
I am already providing the tools, transportation and labor. My Pay had best be on the partner level if l have to provide everything else.
Michael Barton –
It’s their responsibility as employers.
Alex Decoy – Local 41
Between the cost of living, gas prices topped with long commutes, the least the rich contractors can do is provide paid parking for carpenters. Plumbers, electricians and sheet metal workers get it, why can’t we? It’s discrimination.
Wayne Barnes –
Every construction worker that builds permanent structures deserves paid parking.
Tom Nolan – Carpenters local 30
We cannot afford it.
Tanee Manohchompoo – Carpenter local 30
By eliminating parking cost, I would no longer need to worry about budgeting for it. Rather I can put it away for my children’s education. I’ve been fortunate enough to have found a parking garage that doesn’t charge an arm and a leg. However, others are paying up to $25+ a day. That adds up really quickly!
Dustin Donovan – Local 30 Carpenters
I have to pay roughly $6,000+/- yearly on parking alone when I work in Seattle.
Ryan Nicodemus – Carpenter union local 30
This takes money away from our families and income should not have to pay parking. Everyone who works in the city is paid parking or validated parking, it seems fair that a contractor pays his workers parking in full.
Forrest Hussey – Local 30
Because they NEED us to BUILD. The only reason you should be paying to park is if you’re visiting and sightseeing. It is unjust to have to PAY TO WORK.
Keon Mayeux – Local 30
We are losing money every day, every week, every month!!
Christopher Power Sr. – Local 30
I already pay to work. At 100 a week for a whole year is $4800 in parking paid.
Jason Bartos – Local 30 Carpenters
It is a business expense that can be written off. Employees should not have to pay to go to work.
Joe Dobson – LU 30 Carpenters
Parking shouldn’t cost as much as a car payment every month!
Caleb Hatch – Local 70
It’s not affordable to work and live in the city we build.
Adrian Mora –
Because they don’t pay the workers enough and the labor contributes to their profits
Adrianna Carter – Local 41
We should not have to pay to go to work. We pay for our own tools to do the job and gas to get there. We should not have to pay to park. Regular day to day employees get to park for their employer for free, we should too.
Chris Webster – Carpenter local 129
I should not be taxed to come into work.
Stephen Elder – IBEW 46
It’s just another cost of doing business. You should not have to pay to work.
Mike Myers –
The parking is way overpriced, we can’t afford to live in the city so we live further out. The cost alone in fuel to go back and forth to work is outrageous and then add 20 plus dollars a day. Do the math.
Sarah Bay –
Because as construction workers we already are putting 40-60k miles on our cars every year. Least they can do is pay parking, especially since we are the ones who build those parking garages.
Matt Holland – IBEW Local 46
I know people pay over $100 a day to build in Seattle and it’s not right. None of us that work in Seattle should be paying for parking. We are there to build their buildings and the least they can do is absorb the burden of having to pay for parking.
Devin Davies – Local 96
They want us to work on their jobs, they need to pay the expenses that are a requirement of working there.
Timothy Bourbonnie – Local 30
No one would have to pay to work.
Terry Carney – Carpenters local 30
It puts a financial strain on my household budget. I am the sole provider in my home and with the current spike in housing I am barely surviving.
David Wymer –
This is a huge expense that construction workers need to pay for the privilege of working in Seattle. The city benefits from the money derived from the buildings we build ( in perpetuity). Many tradesmen are turning down work in downtown Seattle in favor of other locations solely based on parking fees.
Shane Blackford – Former local 131, former local 30, currently local 70
It’s a post tax, tax for workers. I use my truck to bring tools and materials to work on someone else’s project. I can’t take mass transit. We can’t afford to live in Seattle or Bellevue. Most other skilled trades workers already have paid parking, why not us?
Michael Martin – Local 196
Because they can afford to, while still receiving large profits off of our work. Because it’s their responsibility as our employer to cover this unavoidable cost of doing business.
Justin Yellowwolf – Carpenters Local 70
Because they’ve been passing the buck onto the workers for long enough.
Joe Torrey –
Because it is fully part of the work/project and should be treated as such. It is one of the costs of doing business.
Bryan Eccleston – Local 46 IBEW
Here’s an example of how expensive parking can be downtown.
As a 2nd year apprentice I was working a 5 day schedule during the week. But one of those days I was required to be at the apprenticeship school. So I’m only getting 32 hours in a week.
Parking was so expensive that one full work day’s pay went to just paying my parking to be at work for the week. I worked 4 days a week but only received 3 days of pay because so much had to go to parking.
Aaron Lintz – Carpenters Union Local 70
Construction workers aren’t making a fair wage when they are paying 30 dollars each day just to park their cars. If parking can not be provided at the jobsite then it needs to be paid for elsewhere.
Frederick Stevens – IBEW Local 46
Because it’s an excessive cost passed onto us as an employee. It defeats the purpose of our wage and helps to limit the employer’s ability to man the work.
Johnathan Yelenick – IBEW Local 68
It is time to end the price gouging of working class people. Stop the extraction of surplus value!
Tyler Brudevold – Local 241
It’s a hurtful amount each week.
Dustin Adolphsen – Union carpenter
Contractors can write off parking. Construction workers can’t.
Vincent Padilla – Local 30
Other employers supply parking, so should the general contractors.
Terrence Blanskyn – Local 41
It’s within our rights as workers to have paid parking because otherwise we are subsidizing large corporate profits. They are required to provide safety equipment and tools so why not other expenses associated with the costs of construction. They are essentially taking money out of the pockets of workers and their families which ultimately results in lost wages.
Christopher Johnstone – Local 129
We build that city!
Leith Kahl – ILWU
It’s not fair to take someone’s pay away from them just FOR coming to work.
Virgil McDonald – Carpenter local 30
The more we build the less parking is available. The cost of parking has become a huge issue and consumes a fairly big chunk of our take home pay.
Seth Adams – Local 30 carpenter
I would like to be able to take my wife and 3 kids to a restaurant for a family dinner one night a week, rather than spend that $100 a week just to park where I work.
Jacy Purkiss – Carpenters
Construction workers do pay for electricians parking, and plumbers on various jobs around the city…
Why do they not pay for the rest of us workers that make less money than them?
Which means we take home less money to our families…
150 – 200$ a week in some of these buildings makes it difficult to pay for child care.
Please think of the workers who make the bosses 100’s of millions every year,
and our fair city we’ve come to love,
As we build the structures that brings more residents from all over the world..
Bless you
Jacy purkiss