The Martin Luther King County Labor Council voted Wednesday to remove the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) from its ranks, citing a need for antiracist practices. The move follows Seattle Police Department’s (SPD’s) violent response to recent protests of police murders.
The vote was relatively close with several unions speaking in favor of SPOG, including the firefighters’ union, machinists, transit operators, and even the bakers’ union. Slippery slope arguments were made, but ultimately a majority of members voted SPOG out. The final MLK Labor vote tally was 45,435 delegates voted in favor of expelling SPOG and 36,760 delegates against.
