Labor Archives of Washington: Worker Rights & Civil Rights Organizations

The national A. Philip Randolph Institute was co-founded in 1965 by A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, in 1965 to forge an alliance between the civil rights movement and the labor movement. APRI is now an American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations constituency group, representing black trade unionists within the AFL-CIO. APRI-Seattle Chapter is dedicated to developing programs that will "extend democracy to those who have been traditionally disfranchised or discouraged from participating in the political system, strengthening political alliances needed to assure democratic social change and projecting social and economic programs that will improve the lives of all Americans."

Records of a labor alliance serving Asian American and Pacific Islander workers and its Seattle chapter

Clippings, correspondence, minutes, photographs, and buttons from Boeing retireees who organized during the 1995 Boeing strike

CASA Latina is a worker center and Seattle-based nonprofit that works to educate, assist and empower Latinx and immigrant workers. Founded in 1994 to address the needs of a growing number of Latinx workers arriving in Seattle, the organization began by doing street outreach in borrowed spaces, becoming a nonprofit in 1995. Since 2009, CASA Latina runs a labor dispatch hall and training programs out of a custom-designed, three-building campus in Seattle’s Central District. The campus provides a home for CASA Latina’s ESL classes, job skills and safety training workshops, as well as community organizing for over 750 worker-members.

The " CASA" in CASA Latina stands for Centro de Ayuda Solidaria a los Amigos, which means "Center for Help in Solidarity with Friends." CASA Latina made history in 2014 when it affiliated with the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, becoming the first worker center to join the executive board of the state AFL-CIO body. CASA Latina had earlier affiliated with the WSLC in 2009. CASA Latina joined forces with the Martin Luther King County Labor Council in Seattle in 2014. Nationally, CASA Latina is affiliated with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network and National Domestic Workers Alliance. CASA Latina’s programs, curricula, and operations have served as a model for worker centers throughout the country.

[ CASA Latina es un centro de trabajadores y una organización sin fines de lucro basada en Seattle que existe para educar, asistir y apoderar a trabajadores Latinx e inmigrantes. Fundado en 1994 para responder a las necesidades de un gran número de trabajadores Latinx llegando a Seattle, la organización empezó por alcance callejero en lugares prestados y se convirtió en una organización sin fines de lucro en 1995. Desde 2009, CASA Latina maneja un centro de trabajo y programas de entrenamiento en un campus de tres edificios, de diseño personalizado, localizado en el Central District en Seattle. En este campus, CASA Latina provee clases de inglés, talleres de habilidades y seguridad en el trabajo, y organización comunitaria para 750 miembros-trabajadores.

La “ CASA” en CASA Latina significa Centro de Ayuda Solidaria a los Amigos. CASA Latina hizo historia en 2014 cuando se junt al Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, haciéndose el primer centro de trabajadores de ser parte de la junta ejecutiva del cuerpo AFL-CIO del estado. CASA Latina se había afiliado con el WSLC en 2009. CASA Latina se junto al Martin Luther King County Labor Council en Seattle en 2014. Al nivel nacional casa latina está afiliado al National Day Laborer Organizing Network (red nacional de organizar jornaleros) y National Domestic Workers Alliance (alianza nacional de trabajadores domésticos). Los programas, el currículo y las operaciones de CASA Latina han servido como modelo para centros de trabajadores al través del país.]

The Independent Media Center is an an international network of journalists that report on political and social issues. It was founded during the Seattle anti-WTO protests in 1999, employing an open publishing and democratic media process that allows anybody to contribute. The Independent Media Center Seattle gathered these materials in creating a documentary on the 1999 Seattle World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference protests. The resulting documentary was called "Showdown in Seattle : five days that shook the WTO." These materials were left behind by IndyMedia when they moved out of the ScanTV public access television building in Seattle. Ed Escalana gathered these materials and donated them to the UW Libraries.

The Independent Media Center is an international network of journalists that report on political and social issues. It was founded during the Seattle anti-WTO protests in 1999, employing an open publishing and democratic media process that allows anybody to contribute.
Historical Background
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In November 1999, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference was held in Seattle. It was intended to be the launch of a new millennial round of trade negotiations. Concerns over economic globalization prompted a series of large-scale protests with 400,000 people filling the streets of the city, representing an array of causes, from labor to the environment. During the nearly nine month mobilization in 1999, local and national non-governmental groups representing a variety of interests determined how to publicize the threat posed by the WTO and how to frame their messages to attract the attention of the public, the media and the WTO itself. The lengthy and often contentious mobilization process led to a six-week period immediately preceding the protests during which activists prepared themselves and the public with public teach-ins, training, and debates.

Organizational records include meeting agendas, sign-in sheets, and minutes (1995-2017). Records of the group’s campaigns include planning records, research materials, posters and leaflets, position statements, and files of press coverage (1995-2021). The group’s actions are thoroughly documented by a collection of photographs, which typically include exact dates, description of the event depicted, and identification of people in the photo (1992-2011). Electronic records (3.38 megabytes, 9920 files in 1598 directories) include email messages, agendas and minutes, website pages, planning and research documents, news coverage, and photographs.

The Union of Democratic Filipinos (KDP) is an organization that emerged in the Filipino American Community in 1973. As an organization the KDP embraced the dual goal of establishing socialism in the US, as well as supporting the National Democratic Movement led by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). A central part of the mission of the KDP was fighting the regime of Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who had established marshall law when he seized power and represssed leftists and trade unionists in the Phillippines. Two of the KDP's Seattle members, Gene Viernes and Silme Domingo, were assassinated for their attempts to counter the Marcos regime and reform the Cannery Workers Union is Seattle. Marcos was later found guilty of orchestrating the attacks and found criminally liable in a US court.

Records of Vancouver, Washington branch of the national civil rights organization.

Nonprofit community-based vocational training center. It was founded as an outgrowth of the OIC movement which had been started two years earlier in Philadelphia. In 1972, OIC Seattle became the first community-based organization to receive federal designation as a Skills Center. Its rapid growth and expanding programs made possible the building of a multi-million dollar training center dedicated in 1974.

The Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans (PSARA) is a Seattle-based branch of the Alliance for Retired Americans. Founded in 1981, PSARA affiliated with the national Alliance of Retired Americans in 2001.

In 2002, the organization changed its name to the Puget Sound Council of Senior Citizens. The organization changed its name again in June of 2012 to the Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action and disaffiliated with the national Alliance of Retired Americans. The organization still works in close coordination with the Washington State Alliance of Retired Americans.

Radical Women (RW) is a socialist feminist organization. RW sought to become the socialist wing of the feminist movement. The organization was founded in Seattle in 1967 when Freedom Socialist Party co-founder Clara Fraser and her close colleague, Gloria Martin, joined with young women from Students for a Democratic Society to build women's leadership in the left and anti-war movements. In 1973, RW formally affiliated with the Freedom Socialist Party, and the party gained a sister organization. Other founding members include Melba Windoffer and Susan Stern.

RW is active in intersectional feminist socialist organizing against racism, sexism, homophobia, fascism, and labor exploitation. Their political analysis sees women's political action as essential in creating social change and trains women to lead these campaigns. They have been especially active in pressuring other feminist organizations into better representing women of color and the LBGTQ+ community.

Radical Women (RW) is an all women organization dedicated to "exposing, resisting and eliminating the inequities of women's existence by providing women the leadership skills, social history, and working-class consciousness that they were denied in the male-dominated antiwar, antipoverty and civil-rights movements." RW was founded in Seattle in 1967 when the Freedom Socialist Party co-founder Clara Fraser and her close colleague, Gloria Martin, joined with young women from Students for a Democratic Society to build women’s leadership in the left and anti-war movements. RW also sought to become the socialist wing of the feminist movement. In 1973, it formally affiliated with the Freedom Socialist Party, and the party gained a sister organization. Other founding members include Melba Windoffer and Susan Stern.

RW was active in anti-Vietnam War protests, labor issues, gay rights, women’s rights in the workplace, divorce reform, and other issues that affect oppressed peoples. They are an organization that does intersectional organizing against racism, sexism, homophobia, and labor exploitation. RW's political analysis sees women's leadership and political action as decisive to social change and trains women to lead in these campaigns.

Histadrut was Israel's Federation of Labor. The group provided moral and financial support for Histadrut. Mrs. Ida Miller was corresponding secretary for Seattle Friends of Histadrut.

During the 1980s, members of the Seattle and Puget Sound Polish American community joined together to provide support for the Polish Solidarność (Solidarity) union and its members through fundraising, lobbying, and educational outreach activities in the Pacific Northwest.

Solidarność (Solidarity) was a Polish trade union that in the early 1980s became the first independent labor union in a country belonging to the Soviet bloc. Solidarity was founded in September 1980, was forcibly suppressed by the Polish government in December 1981, and reemerged in 1989 to become the first opposition movement to participate in free elections in a Soviet-bloc nation since the 1940s.

The Seattle Union Record was a daily newspaper published 1918-1928 by the Seattle Central Labor Council (American Federation of Labor). Scope Cashbooks, subscription records, and other business records of the Seattle Union Record, a newspaper published by Seattle Central Labor Council.

The Seattle Urban League (later the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle) is a social service organization created largely for the advocacy, community organization, and development of African Americans, other racial minorities, and the poor, but whose broader mission is to eliminate racial inequality, to create equal opportunity, and to promote self-sufficiency for these populations of Seattle citizens. Seattle Urban League programs for vocational training and employment included direct services to individuals such as training workshops, job placement and referral, and job fairs. In addition to these services, in 1964 the “Equal Opportunity Employers” roster was established, which listed businesses that had pledged an open-door policy in hiring practices and that employed more than 40 persons. Another significant employment program was On-The-Job Training (OJT). [Click link for more information]

Founded in 1937 as the Old Age Pension Union, the group's name was changed to Washington Pension Union in 1944. The WPU represented a coalition of liberal-left organizations that were friendly with the Communist Party and working to reform the economic system. At the height of its influence in the Great Depression, the organization dissolved in 1961. The WPU advocated adequate pensions for the elderly and public assistance for the needy. William J. Pennock was a founder and president of the Washington Pension Union until his death in 1953.

Working Washington is a coalition of unions, faith, and grassroots community groups--an outgrowth of Service Employees International Union Local 775--that seeks to unite working people to fight for a fair economy. They were the organization that organized the campaign of fast food strikes that sparked the fight for the $15 minimum wage in Seattle and helped lead the successful campaign to pass a $15 minimum wage in SeaTac.

In April of 1892, a group of Jewish garment workers from New York City's Lower East Side formed a mutual aid society called the Workingmen’s Circle. This small collective soon grew to a membership of 300, and it officially became known as the Workmen’s Circle (Der Arbeter Ring in Yiddish) in 1900. The Workmen’s Circle provided benefits that poor immigrants were otherwise denied: life insurance, health benefits, unemployment relief, homes for the aged, and funeral assistance. By 1920 there were over 80,000 members, and The Workmen’s Circle had become one of the largest Jewish organizations in America.

In April of 1892, a group of Jewish garment workers from New York City's Lower East Side formed a mutual aid society called the Workingmen’s Circle. This small collective soon grew to a membership of 300, and it officially became known as the Workmen’s Circle (Der Arbeter Ring in Yiddish) in 1900. The Workmen’s Circle provided benefits that poor immigrants were otherwise denied: life insurance, health benefits, unemployment relief, homes for the aged, and funeral assistance. By 1920 there were over 80,000 members, and The Workmen’s Circle had become one of the largest Jewish organizations in America.

The programs initiated by the Workmen's Circle encompassed a host of social, cultural, and political issues deemed important to the Jewish community. In addition to promoting labor rights and the strengthening of trade unions, the organization provided educational and cultural programs that emphasized Jewish heritage through theater, music, literature, summer camps, and Yiddish instruction. The Workmen's Circle also sold war bonds to provide support during both World Wars, and partnered with other Jewish organizations to actively promote and fund the settlement and expansion of Israel during the early years of its existence. After World War II, the organization de-emphasized their socialist leanings in an effort to distance themselves from communist affiliation.

The Seattle, Washington branch of the Workmen's Circle -- Branch 304 -- was organized in 1909, and their first location was a rented store on 14th Avenue and Main Street. In 1920, the members bought a building at 120 21st Avenue that had previously been a blacksmith shop. Property was then purchased for the organization at 1614 East Union Street in 1937, with the grand opening of this location taking place in December 1942. Activities in Seattle included summer picnics, festive observances of Jewish holidays, New Years Eve celebrations, banquets, and lectures. Though Branch 304 eventually closed its doors in 1973, the Workmen's Circle organization continues to operate in several cities across the country.

Protest materials from the 1999 WTO Ministerial Conference held in Seattle

The University of Washington Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) was established in 1895 by Ella Chamberlain, head of the English department. The UW chapter of the YWCA has a history of service and advocacy. Of particular interest to labor historians ia accession 1930-003, (1918-1975; bulk 1964-1975) and accession 1930-021 (1950-1982; bulk: 1969-1981). These segments reflect the UW YWCA chapter's interest and engagement of issues of gender and sexual equality in society. Part of this concern was equality in employment. Of particular interest are records documenting Mechanica, a training and job placement center aimed at getting women into apprenticeships in the construction industry.