According to the group’s newsletter, their latest meeting with management was a win for workers

By Ella Avital, UW News Lab

Employees of Capitol Hill’s longest-running and most significant live music venue and its sibling bars sent a set of demands to management this spring in pursuit of increased wages and safety guarantees. The group of workers from bars Neumos, Barboza, and The Runaway are rolling out a public unionizing campaign.

A letter of demands signed by over 75% of staff was sent to Neumos management identifying the most urgent issues that employees faced. The set of demands were separated into four pillars: compliance with industry standards and laws, fair pay, safer staffing practices, and a commitment to consistent communication.

“On any given weekend we can have upwards of over 1,000 people in the building; we need people to manage that,” Neumos security staff member Ozi Goldstein said. “It was security that raised those concerns and our concerns were ignored, then someone ended up getting severely injured and we decided to move things along because these are urgent issues that had to be dealt with sooner rather than later.”

The efforts are part of independent union activity rippling across Seattle and Capitol Hill’s business communities. Last week, CHS reported on workers from the Sea Creatures restaurant group including Capitol Hill steakhouse Jeffry’s arriving at a tentative agreement over hours, pay, and benefits.

The Neumos demands noted consistent payroll mistakes going uncorrected, staffing constraints preventing employees from receiving meals and rest breaks and safety hazards going unaddressed. Neumos Workers United requested that the hourly pay be raised from minimum wage, not only to ensure employees can make a livable wage in Seattle, but also to retain competent security staff, they said.

Neither the owners nor management of Neumos returned repeated requests for comment for this story. Organizing workers have said they have met with ownership over the issues.

Hundreds, maybe thousands of independent union efforts have formed amid the nation’s increasingly fluid and fracture labor landscape.

Instead of traditional, sweeping national unions like the Teamsters or SEIU, recent years have seen a surge in independent unions — local, self-contained worker organizations formed inside specific workplaces. The efforts have helped boost overall union membership across the country. The momentum has shifted from traditional blue-collar manufacturing toward healthcare, retail, and educational services. In Seattle, many of the efforts are focused on restaurants, bars, and clubs.

One of the main points in the Neumos letter of demands are concerns for worker safety.

Kai Lewis is a part of the security team at Neumos and has played a large role in the Neumos Workers United movement.

“I love and adore every single one of my coworkers,” Lewis said. “I have an incredible sense of community. I know people that live and work all over Capitol Hill in different businesses. The sense of community I have with my neighborhood is stronger than that I’ve ever had in high school or college.”

Lewis said that without enough security on staff in a given night, employees cannot take meal and rest breaks Goldstein said that a bar fight between patrons on Super Bowl Sunday resulted in a bartender – who was trying to break up the flight – ending up in the emergency room. Goldstein said this incident drove them to move forward with their coalition more quickly.

According to Goldstein, who also works security, the ideal number of security staff would be six to seven employees and oftentimes, management schedules two to three security staff.

“That was a motivator to start accelerating our organizing movement because we had been raising this issue and this wasn’t just an issue for the Super Bowl,” Goldstein said. “This is an issue any time security staff is reduced.”

@neumosworkers

Neumos Workers United started a social media campaign, releasing their mission statement and set of demands to the public, and marching in Seattle’s May Day parade for International Workers Day. Bartender Charlie Kapps explained that the support they received not only boosts morale for workers but also puts pressure on management.

“I think the bigger, more important part of that is that it puts pressure on the owners of this place to actually meet us at the table and take us seriously,” Kapps said. “When they see how many people in the community are paying attention and supporting us, that’s pressure, you know, that’s incentive to meet with us.”

Employees met with management and ownership in May, during which they outlined demands and cited staff’s negative experiences as evidence, according to the statement from NWU. 

Earlier in June, workers were looking forward to a meeting with co-owner Jason Lajeunesse,

“We’re asking him to do the right thing and meet our demands in full because we truly believe that this is how we make Neumos a safer and more sustainable place for everyone,” Goldstein said.

Goldstein said the efforts to organize go beyond the employees at Neumos.

“If people are looking for what they can do to support us, keep coming to Neumos, Barboza, the Runaway.” Goldstein said. “Let staff know that you support our goals and movement. That’s always something that warms our hearts and motivates us because it’s really about the communities that we serve.”

The Journalism and Public Interest Communication News Lab at the University of Washington gives advanced journalism students an opportunity to build a dynamic clip portfolio by reporting for any of 70 client news outlets in the greater Seattle area. CHS is proud to work with young journalists and feature their work.

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Representatives from the Black Legacy Homeowners group are expected to be part of a panel discussion as part of Monday’s session

The Seattle City Council is considering protections hoped to help shield homeowners from predatory home-buying practices that target communities of color and vulnerable populations in an effort to slow displacement and erosion of generational wealth.

A proposed ordinance part of the Housing, Arts, and Civil Rights Committee’s Monday session would establish a new unfair housing practice in the city to protect homeowners from unwanted, unsolicited offers to purchase their residential properties. Administered by the Office of Civil Rights, the legislation would create a citywide “Do Not Solicit List” to safeguard resident privacy, prevent predatory real estate practices, and help slow the displacement of vulnerable communities.

According to the council’s analysis, homeowners across Seattle have reported excessive, unwanted solicitations to sell their homes. These unsolicited offers can result in owners selling below market value.

In 2023, CHS reported on the Black Legacy Homeowners effort formed to celebrate and protect Black home ownership in the Central District from gentrification and predatory development.

The newly proposed ordinance would make the aggressive real estate practices illegal by establishing the restrictions on solicitation.

Officials say the protections are even more important now. The city expects updates to the Comprehensive Plan allowing more “middle housing” types in areas formerly zoned exclusively for single-family homes, to also bring an increase in unsolicited, potentially predatory real estate activity citywide.

The Seattle proposal is modeled after similar frameworks in New York State and in Philadelphia. Unlike New York’s neighborhood-specific zones, Seattle will follow Philadelphia’s model of a permanent, citywide registry.

Violation of the rules would bring a $1,000 fine enforced by the Office of Civil Rights growing to $2,000 for each subsequent violation in a 12-month period.

Officials say the program will cost around $370,000 a year to implement with a planned launch date in June 2027.

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Multiple units were called to the disturbance just after 7 PM near 10th Ave and E Barbara Bailey Way where officers reported the assaults were underway and a crowd of about 50 people had formed in the altercation involving individuals reportedly armed with a baseball bat and eggs. An officer was also reportedly hit by an “electronic noisemaker” thrown by one of the assault suspects during the melee as police moved in to bust up the disturbance.

According to radio updates, police deployed a non-lethal weapon to take one suspect into custody as he attempted to flee the scene.

At least two victims in the crowd were taken to the East Precinct to make statements about the alleged assaults and to be evaluated for injuries by Seattle Fire.

Seattle Fire was also called to evaluate a reported injury to one of the suspects.

Seattle Police reported the situation as under control after about 10 minutes and an all-city alert calling in back-up officers was canceled.

UPDATE: Video posted to social media shows a small group of people dressed in red, white, and blue livestreaming video and provoking the crowds in the midst of PrideFest festivities through the day. One video captures the alleged assault as a person appearts to swing a baseball bat at one of the livestreamers, narrowly missing. Police already on scene because of the situation around the livestreamers move into action and begin pursuing the suspect with the bat as pandemonium briefly ensues.

The incident came as thousands gathered on Capitol Hill for a street festival and Pride celebrations across the neighborhood that include multiple reports of various groups protesting the event.

We’ll follow up with CHS to learn more about Saturday night’s incident and arrest.

UPDATE 6/29/2026 9:45 AM: SPD has provided the narrative report from Saturday night’s incident and confirms that one person was taken into custody. SPD has redacted the names of the suspect and the victims from the report:

On 06/27/26, I was working uniformed patrol for the Seattle Police Department as 2C01. At around 1915, I joined a disturbance call in progress at the intersection of 10th Ave E/E Denny Wy. Officers on scene reported that two groups were arguing with each other and throwing eggs. More officers were sent to the scene.

While I was en-route, Sgt. XXXX notified radio that he’d witnessed an assault with a baseball bat. As I arrived with my partner, Sgt. XXXX pointed the suspect out to us who was running eastbound on E Denny Wy towards 10th Ave E. My partner Ofc. XXXX gave chase and I heard officer XXXX give numerous loud orders to the suspect to stop running away. Instead of stopping, the suspect turned northbound on 10th Ave E towards E John St. About mid-block, he was struck with an impact munition and surrendered.

We took the suspect, who identified himself as A/XXXX, into custody. He was transported back to the precinct.

At the precinct, a sergeant pulled up the livestream of the incident that was recorded by the victim. The footage shows A/XXXX lurking on the periphery of the confrontation between two crowds as they argue with each other. Then, suddenly, the camera pans left and A/XXXX, who is clearly wearing the same clothing as when I saw him running and as when he was apprehended, steps out of the crowd with a wooden baseball bat raised over his head and swings it at the victim.

A/XXXX swung the bat over his head as if the bat was a samurai sword and nearly struck the victim in the head. The victim was able to step to the side, but the bat struck his tripod, embedding wooden bits into the metal leg of the tripod.

Someone in the crowd sprayed A/XXXX with pepper spray, which appeared to change A/XXXX behavior as immediately began moving away.

A/XXXX is being booked on Assault 2 for trying to hit the victim in the head with a baseball bat, and I am requesting obstruction charges as he continued to flee from officers who gave chase and ordered him to stop, and that he refused to stop until he was struck with an impact munition.

This arrest was screened by XXXX.

A/XXXX bat was recovered on-scene and I submitted it into evidence.

The victim later identified himself as XXXX in person at the East Precinct.

There were several other people that were struck by eggs, or that witnessed this incident. For their account of events, please refer to the backing officer’s reports for specific details not related to this assault.

XXXX.

That video shows A/XXXX suddenly lunge at V/XXXX as he swings the bat over his head at V/XXXX. V/XXXX appeared to notice the attack at the last second and jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding the strike.

A/XXXX swung so hard that his bat impacted the ground when he missed V/XXXX which made an audible noise that can be heard over the noise of the large crowd.

A/XXXX then takes a second sideways swing from the right to the left, narrowly missing a victim in a black shirt and blue jeans standing to V/XXXX right, and appearing to strike the left arm/elbow of a female with red sunglasses and a black shirt standing to that victim’s right.

I have no doubt that V/XXXX would have suffered a fractured or broken bone had A/XXXX swing actually hit him. I believe he was very lucky he noticed the attack coming at the last moment.

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Multiple 911 callers reported gunfire just off E Madison around 8:45 PM. Witnesses told arriving officers that the victim was seen walking from the scene on Madison as a group of suspects fled in a grey Cadillac.

Police began a search for the victim and located a blood trail on E Madison. They discovered the victim had been seen getting into a car near 17th and Madison, according to radio updates.

Around 9 PM, the nearby Kaiser Permanente reported a man with a gunshot wound to the chest had arrived at its emergency room. Seattle Fire was dispatched to treat the victim and transport him for treatment at Harborview. The victim was reported as awake and alert.

Police were searching for the suspect vehicle. There were no immediate reported arrests.

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