We must fight the loss of career development for our colleagues.

On Mon., January 9, 2023, Elijah Wood was terminated from his employment at the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) after speaking up about safety concerns that the Systems Advocates’ team were raising in the field. The concerns Elijah raised are rooted in the desire to protect the people who are doing this work, our unhoused neighbors, and our community. We believe Elijah’s termination was unjust, illegal, and without cause or due process. Therefore, we, the unified employees of KCRHA, stand together to demand that:  Systems Advocates not be assigned to conduct outreach in the field without proper safety equipment.  Systems Advocates not be assigned to conduct outreach without the proper information about encampments needed to do their jobs safely and effectively, like whether any known dangers are present.   All staff concerns be heard and centered with regards to safety policy and procedure, and not be dismissed or punished.  We, the undersigned, hereby demand that Elijah Wood be reinstated to his former position immediately and that an internal investigation be conducted into the safety concerns raised.

We are being treated unjustly for being loyal to the company and committing years of hard work. For using our own cars for delivery and not being paid mileage or any other compensation for years (recently, early ’22, they added $.56 per mile, which still doesn’t cover much). Furthermore, being written up for having car troubles because of the wear we have to put on them for work. Multiple employees have been terminated with no notice, and upon hearsay with no proof of reason. Constantly doing managerial tasks and responsibilities, with no manager pay. Finally, multiple employees unlawfully terminated for striking because of wanting to improve these conditions.

This is important cause to many people who work hard everyday get unrecognized. While those who are the favorites or in with a group so they can’t be held accountable for same offenses that they target others with.

Our store deserves to operate smoothly a majority of the time. We want you to know that we love this store. We love Starbucks. We love each other. We are asking to be listened to and heard, and to find actual solutions to these problems. We are asking to be staffed so that we are not in tears on the floor. We are only asking that someone will work with us to make this store even better, so that we don’t need to transfer to other stores or leave the company we love and know can do better for us.

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Our current plant manager knows his stuff and when you go to him with work related problem he will at least take time to listen!

This is very important because this treatment has been ongoing even before. So many workers have been fired( even I), quit because they can’t stand for themselves and for everyone.

There should be no obstacles to people staying away from work if they could possibly be COVID positive

Employees should not be fearful of management or Human Resources, otherwise what is the point of them? Employees should feel comfortable coming forward with sexual harassment or discrimination issues instead of being retaliated against, harassed, bullied, or singled out. Human Resources and management threatening employees jobs or giving verbal warnings unrelated to work performance due to reporting systemic issues within the bank is disgraceful. Our job is to provide customers the absolute best customer service. If our employer does not treat us right, how do they expect us to do our jobs successfully? Turnover is too high at Bank of the West and for good reasons. Management and Human Resources do not care about employees and corner employees into submission to keep their power. We cannot allow this to happen anymore. We should not feel powerless or hopeless. Our workplaces need to be open and inclusive to let the best possible work to come to fruition. Bank of the West needs to act fast to correct these issues and hire a third-party agency to review the corporate sexual harassment policy and diversity and inclusion policy. Additionally, all employees, especially Human Resources and management, need to go through in-depth bias training provided by an organization specializing in diversity and inclusiveness training, fire perpetrators of sexual harassment, and management/employees that blatantly discriminate against minorities and disabled employees.

Their choice is very wrong for the organization and all of us on many levels. It is with a deep concern and sincerity that we respectfully submit to you our concern regarding your choice of a new CEO. As you are aware, he had previously resigned from UAII. That in itself should be disqualifying. But something even more troublesome is that he is NOT Native American. According to a stipulation on page 3 of the Indian Preference Act, first choice should be given to qualified Indians. We don't believe this was followed and the BOD is NOT in compliance. We greatly appreciate the leadership of Gene Martinez as Interim CEO. guided us through the most difficult time in the history of UAII He has worked with the City and County of Los Angeles, the employees, our clients and the greater Native American Community these past several months to keep us safe. His leadership was thoughtful, heartfelt, professional and knowledgeable. He worked with a cultural awareness and sensitivity that comes from his background and ethnicity as a Native American man. He was raised in the very community he now serves and has a great allegiance to it. We believe he has PROVEN himself. And in taking on the incredible task of leading us through this pandemic, and making sure we secure a building for our move, he has EARNED the position of CEO. It is not in the best interestof UAII staff, clients and our Native American Community to change leadership now. Please make Gene Martinez's status permanent CEO. And we urge the BOD to work closely and respectfully with him.

This is important because i had never missed a day or been late and i feel like i am being mistreated