Around 20 roofers at Mount baker Roofing company called a work stoppage this morning. The picket line was at the company’s offices but the workers were from the MB Roofing shop in Skagit county.
Yesterday, a group of workers presented a demand to the Skagit manager to follow state health and safety rules, and to provide toilets, drinking water, and legal work breaks. The five workers who presented the letter were fired. The picket today was to pressure the bosses to provide those things, and also to reinstate the fired workers- it is illegal to fire workers for protesting working conditions, but as we probably all know, the law isn’t always enforced in the interest of the working class.
There were around 50 people on the picket line at 6 AM today. Dark and cold- 
where’s are the burn barrels? There were workers from the roofing company, and supporters from Community 2 Community, Familias Unidas por la Justicia [our good friends, the farmworkers union in Skagit County], IWW, and a few individuals from UFCW, Teamsters, and the firefighters union. [Sorry if we left anyone out].
We lined the sides of the entrance road with our signs. It was heartening to hear honks from trucks passing by on the freeway and along Pacific Highway. The picket ended at around 9, not long after the sun came up to warm our bones, to consider the owner’s response and to decide next steps.
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Industrial Workers of the World Whatcom-Skagit Branch 