At the end of a very trying year, during the dark days of December, I’m honored to announce that, yes, some good things happened for local workers in 2024. Here is a rundown of those Conquests. (This list is not comprehensive, so please don’t @ me!) by Conor Kelley At the end of a very trying year, during the dark days of December, I’m honored to announce that, yes, some good things happened for local workers in 2024. Here is a rundown of those Conquests. (This list is not comprehensive, so please don’t @ me!)  Let’s get into it. Shiny New Contracts Were Won In perhaps the labor event of the year, Boeing machinists, fed up with years of low pay, went on strike for over 50 days and won a big compounded pay increase of 43.65 percent. We will not discuss what has happened since (it rhymes with “playoffs”). The Seattle Art Museum Visitor Services Office struck for 12 days and reportedly earned themselves a new contract with around $2/hour increases as well as guaranteed 4 percent annual raises in 2025-2027. Congrats to them for prevailing after a years-long fight. Electricians represented by the IBEW 46 went on strike for over 10 weeks and came away with a better compensation package headlined by a $12.50 boost to their hourly wages. And way back in January, WSU Academic Student Employees won HUGE pay increases only hours into their strike. We’re talking up to a 91 percent pay bump over the life of the contract for some workers. As a Husky, I refuse to say “Go Cougs,” but “go” these “Cougs.” A few months later, UW grad students organized and got themselves a raise of 36% over the next three years. Bow Down! Workers Got Their Dang Money Back Because I respect your time, here are only the most major class-action, Office of Labor Standards, and L&I cases that returned money to local workers from their (allegedly) thieving employers. Providence Health & Services paid out a whopping $200 MILLION DOLLARS to over 33,000 current and former employees after being caught willfully (not accidentally) rounding down their hours. Chipotle, home of the Slop Bowl™, allegedly violated the Secure Scheduling and Paid Sick and Safe Time Ordinances an astonishing amount of times, and was forced to return nearly $2.9 MILLION DOLLARS to 1,853 employees. Around 300 current and former workers at Canlis received a total of $1.45 MILLION DOLLARS in back pay from the fine dining restaurant in a class-action settlement after the company allegedly charged patrons a mandatory 20 percent service fee that they claimed went to workers and then…pocketed it. The restaurant then had the audacity to tell the Puget Sound Business Journal, “We stand by the way we run our company.” Wage theft: business as usual in America. Friendly local pizza shop Pagliacci’s had to repay their workers again, this time for allegedly not properly reimbursing their delivery drivers over three years. Workers recouped a total of $375,000. That should buy each of them a large pep. Maybe. In a class-action settlement, 156 workers at the venerable 5 Point Cafe and the Mecca Cafe got back $325,000 stolen from them after they were allegedly not paid overtime, given their full wages, and denied meal and rest breaks. 83 employees of MOD Pizza’s University District location got an even $83,000 back from the company after its second violation of the Secure Scheduling Ordinance. I’m running the numbers to see how much that is per person. I’ll get back to you on that. Naughty Nordstrom! Your mom’s favorite department store allegedly violated the Secure Scheduling Ordinance and the Wage Theft Ordinance and was forced by the Office of Labor Standards to return over $68,000 to 35 employees. The previous ownership of Flesh Flours Bakery & Cafe agreed to return just a few bucks over $400,000 to 134 employees of four of its locations. Gig workers got a much-needed win when 5,567 of these hardworking folks were returned over $730,000 for multiple alleged violations of the Gig Worker Paid Sick and Safe Time Ordinance. Dollar Tree got in on the action, too, allegedly violating three separate ordinances. The company realized they had screwed over 301 of their employees and returned just over $180,000 to them. Just kidding, the Office of Labor Standards forced them. Yay big government! $99,000 was returned to 186 affected employees of four Potbelly locations after the company somehow forgot to abide by the Secure Scheduling and Paid Sick and Safe Time Ordinances. Just plum forgot! More from the sandwich sector: Jimmy John’s, home of the Don’t Google The Owner, violated three ordinances enough times to rack up over $624,000 in backpay they were forced to return to 853 employees. And this one hurts, Cheesecake Factory. (We were all rooting for you!) The Food Factory was forced to return over $148,000 to 372 of its workers after alleged violations of the Secure Scheduling Ordinance. And finally, in May, 495 Boeing workers got over $11.5 MILLION DOLLARS repaid to them after a multi-year L&I investigation that found the company allegedly did not compensate their employees properly under Washington state law for mandatory work travel. But then from that point forward things went smoothly, right? The Cursed Kroger Merger Was Killed The merger that local unions called a nightmare for workers and consumers alike finally met its end. King County Superior Court Judge Marshall Ferguson perma-banned the merger in the state of Washington then federal judge Adrienne Nelson in Portland killed it dead. 2025: we’ll afford to eat! Worker Protections Were Kept—and Improved Rowdy worker-types bullied the Seattle City Council into saving the gig worker ordinance, Everett City Council passed a shiny new wage theft ordinance, and Governor Inslee signed into law a whole stack of pro-worker legislation, including a ban on captive audience meetings, a key union-busting tactic. Starbucks Workers Went on Strike Shout out to the 5,000 Starbucks workers across 43 states who made the brave decision to strike for five days during this holiday season. Here’s to a more equitable contract for them in 2025. Those well wishes extend to the folks still fighting to keep more fruit from their labor, including our colleagues at the Everett Guild and Cascade PBS. And Finally, Speaking of 2025, Minimum Wage Increases Were Approved Seattle workers, you get $20.76 an hour! Renton workers, you get $19! Everybody else in the Evergreen, you get $16.66! And remember, if businesses can’t afford to pay a living wage, they shouldn’t be in business. Workers continue to win! The Worker Conquests round-up lives! On to 2025. Happy New Year, folks.