December 17, 2019

This Week’s Democratic Debate Is Back On

A labor dispute at host Loyola Marymount University was tentatively resolved on Tuesday.

Toni L. Sandys/Washington Post/Getty

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The sixth Democratic debate is back on, thanks to a hastily arranged resolution to a labor dispute that threatened to derail the event at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

A union representing dishwashers, servers, and dining hall workers has been picketing for a contract with food service firm Sodexo since November. All seven candidates who qualified for Thursday’s debate threatened to boycott in solidarity with the workers planning to protest outside the event. The possibility of a pre-holidays debate being canceled seemed possible for several days until the union, Unite Here Local 11, announced Tuesday that it had reached a tentative agreement with Sodexo with the help of Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez.

“Every worker deserves fair wages and benefits,” Perez said in a statement. “That’s why I was proud to help bring all stakeholders to the table, including Unite Here Local 11, Sodexo and Loyola Marymount University to reach a deal that meets their needs and supports workers.”

The agreement, which still needs to be ratified by the union, would last for three years and includes a 25 percent increase in compensation, 50 percent drop in health care costs, and more protections for workers’ job security, according to a statement released by the union.

The lineup for Tuesday’s debate is the smallest one yet, featuring former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), businessman Andrew Yang, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and billionaire Tom Steyer.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

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