Kohl-Welles Wins Key Labor Endorsements
Labor Votes For “Sole” Endorsements
King County Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles, running for her second term for the Council District 4 position, received two important endorsements last week from organized labor. Both MLK Labor (formerly King County Labor Council) and SEIU Healthcare 1199NW voted for sole endorsements.
“I’m thrilled to have received this vote of confidence from my labor allies,” said Kohl-Welles. “ I am looking forward to continuing my partnership with organized labor in the effort to provide living wage jobs, protect the environment and workers’ rights and expand affordable housing and equitable access to affordable public transit, health care and essential services.”
Diane Sosne, President of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, had this to say: “We are proud to stand with Martin Luther King Jr. County Councilmember Jeanne Kohl-Welles as she runs for re-election. She has been a staunch and unwavering pro-worker and working families advocate standing shoulder to shoulder with our members on our picket lines calling for quality care. Jeanne has also been a leader in promoting and passing progressive policy and legislation. We look forward to her continued leadership on the council.”
In her first-term on the King County Council, Kohl-Welles was the lead sponsor of legislation requiring the update of the Countywide anti-discrimination, harassment, and sexual harassment policies, procedures and training protocols that for the first time included workplace misconduct.
“I will be introducing legislation shortly on new policies on affordable and accessible child care which will benefit working parents in King County,” said Kohl-Welles, explaining some of her future plans. She was also a sponsor of the new County ordinance on employees being able to bring their infants to work, which is being tested as a pilot project right now.
Kohl-Welles began her career as a public school teacher and later became an academic specializing in equity and anti-discrimination laws.
She has sponsored all major pro-labor and anti-discrimination and harassment legislation in her time on the Council, and has been a champion for affordable housing and expanded public transit service.
Kohl-Welles has also received sole endorsements from the 32nd Legislative District Democrats and the 46th Legislative District Democrats, two of the four legislative districts located in County Council District 4 and the only ones that have announced their endorsements so far. Other endorsements include the Metropolitan Democratic Club, the National Women’s Political Caucus of Washington, and Culture PAC.
Prior to serving on the Council, Kohl-Welles served in the state legislature for 23 years where she chaired the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee for eight years and was a staunch defender of labor and working people.