King County Employees March for a Safe Workplace
Today, around 300 King County Employees, labor leaders, community members and allies rallied at the King County Administration building with a demand for immediate improvements to workplace safety.
Speakers from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office included Darrah Hinton (Deputy Prosecuting Attorney and President of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Association), Mary Laskowski (KCPAO Training & Outreach Coordinator), Manka Dhingra (WA State Senator, 45th Legislative District and Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney), and Amy Freedheim (Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney).
“This rally is about workplace safety, it is not blaming our houseless and permanently and excluded members of the community who are often underserved and historically excluded because County and City officials have underserved them and have caused this problem,” said KCPAA President Darrah Hinton. “This is about employees and community members who have been collectively and repeatedly failed by our County and City officials day in and day out after years of exclusion, indifference and inaction. County employees have showed up to this courthouse every single day — through snow, through rain, and through a global pandemic; it’s time for the County to show up for us.”
“I’ve been a King County employee for over 19 years,” said Sen. Dhingra. “We’re here today to join our voices in demanding for a safe workforce, because this critical need has not been heeded. Women and so many others are not safe in their workplace in the courthouse.”
“Safety in and around the courthouse is not a new or novel issue,” said Senior DPA Amy Freedheim. “County employees drive the busses 24 hours a day, we help the vulnerable with services, we help with adoptions and marriages, we help with passports, we ask jurors and witnesses and families to be in the courthouse to attend to criminal justice matters. We love working in historic Pioneer Square. We are aware of our surroundings — and we are still not safe.”
Speakers delivered a message to City and County leaders that the many community members who need to frequent the courthouse vicinity deserve to be able to do so safely. This includes employees, jurors, witnesses, people seeking protection orders, passports, adoptions, etc.
Today’s rally and march around the courthouse comes after years of violence and harassment that King County employees and residents have experienced in and around the courthouse. Most recently, there was an attempted rape inside the courthouse. However, this rally was not focused on one single event — rather the years of safety concerns in and around the King County Courthouse. We also believe that unhoused people should have their needs met promptly in a responsible way, including those living in City Hall Park adjacent to the courthouse.
