Our 100% membership McIlvaine Tenant Union recently voted to launch a utilities strike, protesting landlords Tim Solimano and Zach Laster-Hazzard of Rainier Valley Partners use of the Ratio Utility Billing System (RUBS).
The McIlvaine RUBS strike is now on and getting great press coverage, including the front page of the Seattle Times, and a recent follow-up piece from the Tacoma News Tribune.
Tenants will remain on strike until Solimano and Laster-Hazzard come to the table to bargain in good faith. A unanimous utilities strike is a massive display of economic tenant power, but it will not automatically bring Tim and Zach out of hiding.
McIlvaine tenants need to keep adding pressure, and they need your support. Sign and share their petition today to show your solidarity. And don’t forget to share it with friends, family and -of course– neighbors!
It’s been a huge week for Tacoma tenants. Wright Park had their first big escalation action since their launch in September, McIlvaine is on a unanimous utilities strike, and Tacoma voters just made it a requirement for landlords to negotiate with tenant unions. Read on for ways to support!
Blackrock Best Check Themselves!
Last Thursday, 10/29, Blackrock Communities NW officially announced its acquisition of the Brown, Dreher, and Hillcrest Apartments, homes to the 75%+ supermajority Wright Park Tenant Union. They posted information on doors with an insulting 72 hours to go until November’s rent was due, then tried to push residents to get on their AI-based online portal.
On Monday morning at 9:00am, tenant leaders from all three buildings went straight to Blackrock’s leasing office to pay their rent in person. They arrived with a giant, sweepstakes-style check symbolizing the $37,000 in rent they control each month. Blackrock best CHECK themselves!
Some of the Wright Park leaders who joined our action
They also brought a petition signed by 30 union members. The petition makes the union’s position clear: tenants are collectively refusing to use Blackrock’s online portal until Daniel Casey agrees to meet and negotiate in good faith with the union.
Although the leasing office is supposed to open at 8:30am, not a single landlord or property manager was to be found on the scene. With no one available to receive their rent or respond to their demands, tenants recorded this video instead!
McIlvaine’s “Dump R.U.B.S” banner from their April union launch
Tenants will remain on strike until landlords Tim Solimano and Zach Laster-Hazzard come to the table to bargain in good faith. A unanimous utilities strike is a massive display of economic tenant power, but it will not automatically bring Tim and Zach out of hiding. McIlvaine tenants need to keep adding pressure, and they need your support.
Tacoma tenants won big on election night! Initiative 1, Safe Homes For All, passed with flying colors.
Check out these photosand coverage from the Tacoma News Tribune.
Tenant union leaders and Tacoma For All supporters celebrating on election night
Going up against $850,000 in corporate spending by the landlord lobby, Tacoma voters proved (again) that organized people can beat organized money. This is a huge win for tenant unions in Tacoma. Not only does Initiative 1 recognize a tenant’s right to organize, but it requires landlords to engage in good faith bargaining with tenant unions.
In this KNKX article, McIlvaine leader Rachel McDonald captured the impact of this win for her union. Put simply, “We can go forward and actually negotiate in good faith with our landlords, who up until now have refused to meet with us.”
Are you a renter? Have you ever been threatened with eviction? Have you ever felt worried about losing your housing? If so, come join our tenant rights workshop. Learn about your rights and the new tenant protections in Tacoma and across the state.
If you have accessibility or language interpretation needs please email tacoma@tenantunion.org
Childcare will be available and snacks will be provided.
This meeting is made possible through the support of the City of Tacoma.
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