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Fighting for
Collective
Liberation
Virginia Mason SEIU1199NW Picketline Picket
Westin UniteHere 8 Picket
APALA Convention 2023 Seattle
Virginia Mason SEIU1199NW Picketline Picket
Who We Are
Founded in 1992, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO, is the first and only national organization of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) workers. Backed with strong support of the AFL-CIO, APALA has more than 20 chapters and pre-chapters and a national office in Washington, D.C.
APALA envisions a society where economic and racial justice prevails, human rights and worker dignity are affirmed, and where a healthy, sustainable planet is able to offer a better life for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Black, brown, and Indigenous folks, and all communities fighting oppression.
![APALA Seattle is proud to stand in solidarity with Asian massage workers organizing to address exploitation and trafficking. In the couple of weeks, we have partnered with the Massage Parlor Organizing Project (MPOP) to pass a resolution at MLK Labor, that commits our labor movement to advocate for massage workers’ rights and public health-informed approaches, not police and fire department raids. A press conference was held to share this historic resolution passing and to hear from the workers directly.
APALA Seattle Chapter President Eunice How shared at the press conference “Our nation’s history has not always been welcoming to AANHPI workers. Despite legalized exclusion..our ancestors nonetheless knew the power of the collective and the importance of solidarity in winning justice at work...When the Massage Parlor workers approached APALA about writing a resolution in solidarity, we were reminded of the pain to our community back in 2021 when 6 Asian women spa workers were murdered. We had to address the fact that the raids on Asian massage parlors perpetuate anti-Asian sentiment, stigma and violence towards workers and Asian communities.”
A massage parlor worker shared “We want to solve them [unsafe working conditions] by protecting workers rights. Instead the government responded with police raids. Police rush in, search us, handcuff us, take our money and belongings, and arrest us in the end. It is the workers who get hurt. How is that good for us? Many workers are most afraid of the raids. After the raid, a worker often loses her income and her home. She cannot take care of her children, she may even be jailed and may even be jailed or deported because of this fear.”
Another massage parlor worker shared at the MLK Labor Meeting “I didn’t realize that there was a whole labor movement out there. I thought we were all alone. It makes me feel powerful to have more support.”
Stand in solidarity with massage workers and sign on to our #SafetyNotStigma campaign! (Link in Bio)](https://scontent-den2-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.82787-15/720291174_18300612658303998_6700602409469122817_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=110&ccb=7-5&_nc_sid=18de74&efg=eyJlZmdfdGFnIjoiRkVFRC5iZXN0X2ltYWdlX3VybGdlbi5DMyJ9&_nc_ohc=RS4BvoOKwDQQ7kNvwFZfdSq&_nc_oc=Adr0zczXCgvY1qrIhqI7rE0Z_zjMm8YTP7ij7Un5hMJ5ReMr-B0vNE5797xM8TyZlww&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-den2-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=URBt6xQVgfoZIHbzV7nBqQ&_nc_tpa=Q5bMBQGTn3E87I29eUzuIlzJheJ20vW-BZgYvg6-TShD6FF0n7a9fiqX4eMtGg5U_7bpkLn2Lz9tBPtA&oh=00_Af_GVyCBZqCqR-HZXulYuayWA43MRfNYpHtRmRPfxOJdIQ&oe=6A2DE656)
"I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change....I’m changing the things I cannot accept"
- Angela Davis
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