With each cohort of the WTIA Ion Collaborators, we’ve tweaked our requirements, refined our procedures, and experimented with different group dynamics. But with Cohort 5, we’re stepping out into completely uncharted territory—not just for WTIA, but for the greater Seattle community and beyond.

This time around, we’re adding a sector into the mix that is rarely mentioned in the same breath as tech (and if it is, it’s not usually for positive reasons): organized labor. Organized labor, especially those representing building trades, have benefited from tech boom because they’re building more than ever. Head of MLK Labor Nicole Grant and I saw an opportunity in these sectors’ differences: to bring them together as unlikely allies, combining the strengths of each into a unified force against the city’s civic issues. Of course, this is much easier said than done. Building strong relationships doesn’t happen overnight; it requires working together and being in a continued conversation together. Ion will serve as a starting point for Cohort 5 to do just that.

Like with previous cohorts, Cohort 5 will include employees of various seniority levels. Participants representing organized labor will include rank-and-file union members, staffers, and leaders within unions. Tech and government participants will include junior employees to those in leadership positions.

We asked a representative from each sector to describe why they joined and what they’re hoping to accomplish during their time in the program.

Matt Breed of the Port of Seattle:

“Julie and her excitement around the program were my main motivation [to join Ion].  She has a passion for Ion that is infectious. The idea of government, labor, and tech coming together for this cohort really appealed to me given that I have ties to all three of those groups. I am looking to build some long lasting relationships and connect to businesses and organizations in the region that I wouldn’t normally work with…It’s very refreshing to approach a problem without having to deal with the normal constraints imposed by a functioning bureaucracy. I’m looking forward to the ideation phase and experiencing how those lack of constraints influence the overall process.”

Nicole Grant of MLK Labor: 

“It’s a big pleasure that so many workers and unions are participating in Ion Cohort 5. Seattle’s Labor Movement takes pride representing over 150,000 workers in critical areas of our local economy, from aerospace to maritime, and healthcare, construction, hospitality and more. As the newest economic powerhouse, the massive local technology industry, with its incredibly diverse collection of products and services, is extremely important to us. 

Ion Cohort 5 provides an exceptional opportunity for worker activists, be they union leaders or new apprentices, to begin lifelong alliances with folks at all levels of the technology industry. The leadership that Ion has fostered since its inception is a model for how we can engage in our communities together. I can’t wait to see what issues this cohort tackles. 

The exchange of culture between Ion participants is extraordinary. Beyond the bridges to tech, Ion fosters [an understanding of] people’s races, gender, age, wealth, health and other foundations of human identity. This program will go down in history, its cohorts raising up transformative change in our city.”

Sharif Mahfouz of VIZIO: 

“I joined Ion because private sector industries are very effective at solving specific problems, particularly where the solutions are well aligned with a profit incentive, but ineffective in solving many other problems.

The polico-economic systems we have place in America, as with any system in the history of time, has its own advantages and disadvantages. Technical innovation and globalization are often seen as products of our system. However, we can also see rising income inequality, gentrification, and erosion of local communities as byproducts of the same system. Specialization can lead us to look inward towards our work, but in order to be good citizens and custodians of our community, we need to ensure that we are part of the broader conversation that drives our democracy, community, and society forward. Ion helps to provide us a framework for that by giving room for forms of cross-sector collaboration extremely uncommon in the tech sector. I hope that Ion will allow me and others in my cohort to reflect on not only what our communities need, but also about the shifts in society that got us here in the first place.”

Mandy Richardson, delegate of Carpenters Local 30:

“I joined Ion for lots of reasons. I just did Institute for a Democratic Future which is very politically based. I wanted to take that knowledge and broaden out from politics and merge with tech and government, and give labor a voice…[and eradicate] stigmas and stereotypes, like that people in labor are uneducated…I’m excited to learn from the other sectors and go out into the community with an awesome project.”