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114-477: The core responsibilities of the MLKCLC are to assist workers and their unions in the struggle for social and economic justice; support efforts to organize and bargain fair contracts; lobby, endorse and involve working people in the political process; advocate and support laws that protect working people; support community services outreach work; and unite with community allies who are also struggling for justice. In 1888,

228-569: A class-action lawsuit claiming that workers were forced to work "off the clock" – uncompensated hours. However, the union was decertified in an election when Nordstrom employees voted against union representation. In 1993, during the KCLC's Labor Day picnic, a yearly institution that had replaced the annual Labor Day Parade, Washington Governor Mike Lowry expressed his support for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). NAFTA

342-465: A contract. The proposed levies included a $ 69.5 million two-year operating levy and a $ 64 million, six-year levy for capital improvements. The KCLC supported the players strike against the National Football League in 1987. Then Executive Secretary Treasurer Dan Bickford urged a protest against NFL Seattle Seahawks games that used strike replacement players. Bickford affirmed that

456-661: A great frenzy among the technology companies in Seattle but the bubble ended in early 2001. In 1999, the World Trade Organization held its conference in Seattle, which was met with protest activity . The protests and police reactions to them largely overshadowed the conference itself. In 2001, the city was impacted by the Mardi Gras Riots and then by the Nisqually earthquake the following day. Another boom began as

570-405: A model of trade unionism in which workers are organised based on the particular craft or trade in which they work. It contrasts with industrial unionism , in which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of differences in skill . Under this approach, each union is organized according to the craft, or specific work function, of its members. For example, in

684-618: A national work stoppage, the KCLC moved to address a festering local issue by sanctioning the first teachers strike in Washington, led by American Federation of Teachers (AFT) members at Seattle Community College in 1972. In 1974 the Arab Oil Embargo and subsequent worldwide oil shortage spurred then Executive Secretary Treasurer James K. Bender to threaten a citywide strike because unregulated gasoline distribution could lead to shortages that would prevent workers from getting to work. In 1975

798-441: A number of technology companies, including Amazon , F5 Networks , RealNetworks , Nintendo of America , and T-Mobile . This success brought an influx of new residents with a population increase within city limits of almost 50,000 between 1990 and 2000, and saw Seattle's real estate become some of the most expensive in the country. Seattle in this period attracted attention as home to the companies opened operations in or around

912-478: A number of theaters in the city exhibiting vaudeville acts and silent movies. He went on to become one of America's greatest theater and movie tycoons. Scottish-born architect B. Marcus Priteca designed several theaters for Pantages in Seattle, which were later demolished or converted to other uses. Seattle's surviving Paramount Theatre , on which he collaborated, was not a Pantages theater. War work again brought local prosperity during World War II , centered on

1026-726: A project by the Seattle School Board called Step Forward. The project's purpose was designed to promote school leadership and public education which was established by CEOs from Safeco , Boeing and other large corporations. However, KCLC President Dale Daugherty deemed Step Forward as "the attempt of business to seize control of the School Board and turn it into a board that functions like boards of directors of corporations." The KCLC stated that many of those same corporations, like Boeing, have been against tax laws that would benefit public education. A coalition in opposition to this effort

1140-438: A rule, in small shops in which they had little contact with workers in other fields. Some of these early unions also came out of a guild tradition in which skilled workmen often owned their own shops or, if they worked for another, had a good deal of control over how the work was done, which they policed by maintaining standards for admission into the trade; requiring entrants to go through an apprenticeship program controlled by

1254-595: A total area of 142.5 square miles (369 km ), 84 square miles (220 km ) of which is land and 58.1 square miles (150 km ) is water (41% of the total area). According to the Köppen climate classification system, Seattle has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate ( Csb ), while under the Trewartha system, it is labeled an oceanic climate ( Dobk ). It has cool, wet winters and mild, relatively dry summers, covering characteristics of both climate types. The climate

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1368-506: Is hilly in some places. Like Rome, the city is said to lie on seven hills ; the lists vary but typically include Capitol Hill , First Hill , West Seattle , Beacon Hill , Queen Anne , Magnolia, and the former Denny Hill . The Wallingford , Delridge , Mount Baker , Seward Park , Washington Park , Broadmoor , Madrona , Phinney Ridge , Sunset Hill , Blue Ridge , Broadview , Laurelhurst , Hawthorne Hills , Maple Leaf , and Crown Hill neighborhoods are all located on hills. Many of

1482-491: Is sometimes characterized as a "modified Mediterranean" climate because it is cooler and wetter than a "true" Mediterranean climate, but shares the characteristic dry summer (which has a strong influence on the region's vegetation). Temperature extremes are moderated by the adjacent Puget Sound , greater Pacific Ocean , and Lake Washington . Thus extreme heat waves are rare in the Seattle area, as are very cold temperatures (below about 15 °F; −9 °C). The Seattle area

1596-557: Is the cloudiest region of the Continental United States , due in part to frequent storms and lows moving in from the adjacent Pacific Ocean. Seattle is cloudy 201 days out of the year and partly cloudy 93 days. With many more "rain days" than other major American cities, Seattle has a well-earned reputation for frequent rain: In an average year, there are 150 days in which at least 0.01 inches (0.25 mm) of precipitation falls, more days than in nearly all U.S. cities east of

1710-515: The 1962 World's Fair , for which the Space Needle was built. Another major local economic downturn was in the late 1960s and early 1970s, at a time when Boeing was heavily affected by the oil crises , loss of government contracts, and costs and delays associated with the Boeing 747 . Many people left the area to look for work elsewhere, and two local real estate agents put up a billboard reading "Will

1824-608: The Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition of 1909, which is largely responsible for the layout of today's University of Washington campus. A shipbuilding boom in the early part of the 20th century became massive during World War I , making Seattle somewhat of a company town. The subsequent retrenchment led to the Seattle General Strike of 1919 , an early general strike in the country. A 1912 city development plan by Virgil Bogue went largely unused. Seattle

1938-664: The Democratic Party . With the emergence of the electronic communication age, publication of The Scanner ended in 1992. During the 1970s the KCLC grew more and more pro-active on progressive labor rights. They urged and sanctioned many strikes throughout the King County area. In 1971 a radical resolution was passed by the delegate body empowering the KCLC to call for a national one-day strike against President Richard Nixon because of what it believed to be his unfair and unworkable labor policies. Although that proposal did not result in

2052-641: The Lake Washington Ship Canal (consisting of two man-made canals, Lake Union , and the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks at Salmon Bay , ending in Shilshole Bay on Puget Sound). The sea, rivers, forests, lakes, and fields surrounding Seattle were once rich enough to support one of the world's few sedentary hunter-gatherer societies. In modern times the surrounding area lends itself well to sailing, skiing, bicycling, camping, and hiking year-round. The city

2166-796: The Pacific Ocean , and Lake Washington . It is the northernmost major city in the United States, located about 100 miles (160 km) south of the Canadian border . A gateway for trade with East Asia , the Port of Seattle is the fourth-largest port in North America in terms of container handling as of 2021 . The Seattle area has been inhabited by Native Americans (such as the Duwamish , who had at least 17 villages around Elliot Bay) for at least 4,000 years before

2280-768: The Pacific Ring of Fire , Seattle is in a major earthquake zone . On February 28, 2001, the magnitude 6.8 Nisqually earthquake did significant architectural damage, especially in the Pioneer Square area (built on reclaimed land , as are the Industrial District and part of the city center), and caused one fatality. Other strong earthquakes occurred on January 26, 1700 (estimated at 9 magnitude), December 14, 1872 (7.3 or 7.4), April 13, 1949 (7.1), and April 29, 1965 (6.5). The 1965 quake caused three deaths in Seattle directly and one more by heart failure. Although

2394-752: The Rocky Mountains . However, because it often has merely a light drizzle falling from the sky for many days, Seattle actually receives significantly less rainfall (or other precipitation) overall than many other major U.S. cities like New York City , Miami , or Houston . According to the 2012–2016 American Community Survey (ACS), the racial makeup of the city was 65.7% White Non-Hispanic , 16.9% Asian , 6.8% Black or African American , 6.6% Hispanic or Latino of any race, 0.4% Native American , 0.9% Pacific Islander , 0.2% other races, and 5.6% two or more races . Seattle's population historically has been predominantly white. The 2010 census showed that Seattle

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2508-513: The Seattle Fault passes just south of the city center, neither it nor the Cascadia subduction zone has caused an earthquake since the city's founding. The Cascadia subduction zone poses the threat of an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 or greater, capable of seriously damaging the city and collapsing many buildings, especially in zones built on fill. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the city has

2622-512: The University of Washington negatively. As schools across Washington lost funding and attendance, the university actually prospered during the time period as they focused on growing their student enrollment. While Seattle public schools were influenced by Washington's superintendent Worth McClure, they still struggled to pay teachers and maintain attendance. Seattle was the home base of impresario Alexander Pantages who, starting in 1902, opened

2736-728: The West Central Labor Union ( WCLU ) was organized by its first president, O.F. Wegener, in Seattle, Washington . The WCLU is the first of many names the Council has adopted over the years. Despite being a union itself, the WCLU represented almost every trade and labor union in the area including the Knights of Labor Assembly and the Miners Unions of Newcastle , Cedar Mountain and Renton . One of

2850-592: The anti-Chinese riots of 1885–1886 . This violence originated with unemployed whites who were determined to drive the Chinese from Seattle; anti-Chinese riots also occurred in Tacoma . Seattle had achieved sufficient economic success when the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 destroyed the central business district. However, a far grander city center rapidly emerged in its place. Finance company Washington Mutual , for example,

2964-756: The post-war red scare that reached its peak in 1919, and in the Palmer Raids of the same period. The next challenge to the dominance of craft unions within the AFL came from inside, as John L. Lewis of the Mine Workers, David Dubinsky of the ILGWU, Sidney Hillman of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America , Charles Howard of the International Typographical Union, Thomas McMahon, head of

3078-489: The state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America , and the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The Seattle metropolitan area 's population is 4.02 million, making it the 15th-largest in the United States. Its growth rate of 21.1% between 2010 and 2020 made it one of the country's fastest-growing large cities. Seattle is situated on an isthmus between Puget Sound , an inlet of

3192-460: The "Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride"' – a bus trip of immigration activists from all over the U.S. to Washington, D.C. The KCLC by then had helped establish the nonprofit "Hate Free Zone Campaign of Washington" leveraging the success associated with the Hate Free Zone WTO effort into a new organization devoted to advocating for immigrant rights. In 2005 the KCLC joined a Seattle protest against

3306-682: The "Puget Sound Labor Agency AFL-CIO" (PSLA). The KCLC, food bank was known as one of Seattle's first food banks dating back to 1975. In 2006 the MLKCLC elected the current Executive Secretary, David Freiboth, who formerly served as the national president of the Inlandboatmen's Union of the Pacific for 12 years and had served as the Maritime Trades representative to the MLKCLC Executive Board. Prior executive secretary, Steve Williamson left

3420-478: The 1980s, the Seattle area developed into a technology center ; Microsoft established its headquarters in the region. In 1994, Internet retailer Amazon was founded in Seattle, and Alaska Airlines is based in SeaTac, Washington , serving Seattle–Tacoma International Airport , Seattle's international airport. The stream of new software, biotechnology , and Internet companies led to an economic revival, which increased

3534-601: The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). As a result, Seattle was an anti-radical, closed shop, AFL town. Throughout Beck's influence, the SCLC stayed away from politics and only endorsed "moderate pro-labor Democrats," rejecting leftist coalitions. In 1955 the AFL and CIO merged, which greatly expanded the SCLC bringing the CIO's more politically active approach to the council. During this time,

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3648-614: The Denny Party. Members of the Denny Party claimed land on Alki Point on September 28, 1851. The rest of the Denny Party set sail on the schooner Exact from Portland , Oregon, stopping in Astoria , and landed at Alki Point during a rainstorm on November 13, 1851. After a difficult winter, most of the Denny Party relocated across Elliott Bay and claimed land a second time at the site of present-day Pioneer Square , naming this new settlement Duwamps . Charles Terry and John Low remained at

3762-784: The Federation. One early challenge came from outside: the Western Federation of Miners , a union that had fought a series of violent battles with mine owners over the right to represent mill workers as well as hard rock miners, joined with activists from other unions and from the Socialist Labor Party of America to form the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), which aimed to organize all workers, regardless of craft, nationality, gender or race, into one big union . In practical terms

3876-480: The IWW pursued organizing on an industrial basis. In at least one sense the IWW practiced (and practices) the most egalitarian form of industrial unionism, organizing and accepting membership of workers in any given industry whether they are currently employed or not. The IWW also welcomed immigrant workers, minorities and women as equals. The IWW was successful in some cases, leading a strike of immigrant workers employed in

3990-610: The James K. Bender created a food bank and giving program for union members. The KCLC continued to be involved in various strikes for workers' rights such as the Custodians strike of 1975, and the sanctioning of the second Seattle Community College strike of 1976. The KCLC strengthened their stance on pro-labor rights when they actively supported the Hotel and Restaurant Employees strike of 1981. Twenty-one restaurants and hotels were affected around

4104-522: The KCLC had reentered more progressive local politics, there was still some remnants of business unionism facilitating a no-strike agreement for the construction and operation of the facilities for 1962 World's Fair. [AFL–CIO] There were threats to strike the Fair, dubbed the Century 21 Exposition, because the concessionaires, exhibitors and departments resisted protected labor activism among their employees. In 1964

4218-415: The KCLC took a more conservative position that pro-choice issues were not labor issues. That same month, the KCLC asked its members to not cross picket lines of nurses belonging to Washington's largest health care provider, Group Health . The strike centered on pay and proper staffing levels. It was reported that 95% of the hospital's nurses went on strike. In 1991 the KCLC, and its 85,000 members, opposed

4332-698: The KCLC was a key player in a nationwide historical event, the protests of the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference (WTO). The protests set for the Washington Trade and Convention Center in Seattle sought to emphasize 21st century free trade as promoted by the supporters of economic globalization , the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). A broad coalition of progressive activists protested

4446-402: The KCLC's political arm, the "Committee on Political Education", was very effective in local elections. The growth of the public sector unions and the addition of progressive CIO unions saw it back expanded social services and public housing proposals. Seattle civil rights groups were eventually supported by the Council in the 1960s, as well. [AFL-CIO] The Scanner , a biweekly labor newspaper,

4560-533: The King County Labor Agency, AFL-CIO Community Service Division was created as the 501(c)(03) for charity efforts for the KCLC. In the summer of 1998, the KCLC, along with help from its affiliates created a Seattle Organizing Center (SOC) that aimed at recruiting and training workers looking to organize. The teachers of First Hill Day Care center hoped to use the SOC as a way to finally unionize. While this effort

4674-558: The Legislature of Territorial Washington incorporated the Town of Seattle with a board of trustees managing the city. The Town of Seattle was disincorporated on January 18, 1867, and remained a mere precinct of King County until late 1869, when a new petition was filed and the city was re-incorporated December 2, 1869, with a mayor–council government . The corporate seal of the City of Seattle carries

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4788-715: The Pacific Ocean) to the west and Lake Washington to the east. The city's chief harbor, Elliott Bay , is part of Puget Sound, making the city an oceanic port. To the west, beyond Puget Sound, are the Kitsap Peninsula and Olympic Mountains on the Olympic Peninsula ; to the east, beyond Lake Washington and the Eastside suburbs, are Lake Sammamish and the Cascade Range . Lake Washington's waters flow to Puget Sound through

4902-529: The President of the Carpenters , made a slighting comment about a member of the fledgling union of tire factory workers who was delivering an organizing report. Lewis responded that Hutcheson’s comment was "small potatoes", to which Hutcheson replied "I was raised on small potatoes, that is why I am so small." After some more words Lewis punched Hutcheson, knocking him to the ground, then relit his cigar and returned to

5016-412: The SCLC that culminated in a vote to expel several of the more radical IWW activists. The Council became more conservative and eventually began to "tread the line of Craft Unionism ". This resulted in a decline of membership. From 1920 to 1955 only AFL-affiliated unions were represented by the SCLC. During this phase there was a considerable conservative influence from Dave Beck , a prominent Teamster on

5130-641: The Seattle Central Labor Council changed its name to King County Labor Council (KCLC). In 1961, Chet Ramage, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the King County Labor Council led an effort to allow Sunday liquor sales by banning the Washington 1909 "blue law", which outlaws the sale of liquor on Sundays. In spite of a robust campaign, the legislature took no action based on opposing letters and telegrams . The proposal raised awareness about race, collective bargaining and politics. Although

5244-661: The Seattle area and has been open to all residents of Washington since 2002. On March 20, 1970, twenty-eight people were killed when the Ozark Hotel was burned by an unknown arsonist. The Wah Mee massacre in 1983 resulted in the killing of 13 people in an illegal gambling club in the Seattle Chinatown-International District . Prosperity began to return in the 1980s beginning with Microsoft 's 1979 move from Albuquerque, New Mexico , to nearby Bellevue, Washington . Seattle and its suburbs became home to

5358-630: The Seattle area during his 1791–1795 expedition for the Royal Navy , which sought to chart the Pacific Northwest for the British. In 1851, a large party of American pioneers led by Luther Collins made a location on land at the mouth of the Duwamish River ; they formally claimed it on September 14, 1851. Thirteen days later, members of the Collins Party on the way to their claim passed three scouts of

5472-519: The United States. According to the ACS 1-year estimates, in 2018, the median income of a city household was $ 93,481, and the median income for a family was $ 130,656. 11.0% of the population and 6.6% of families were below the poverty line. Of people living in poverty, 11.4% were under the age of 18 and 10.9% were 65 or older. According to a 2024 study by Henley & Partners , the city of Seattle has an estimated 54,200 millionaires and 11 billionaires. Craft Unionism Craft unionism refers to

5586-473: The United Textile Workers, John Sheridan of the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union (the descendant of the WFM), Harvey Fremming from the Oil Workers Union and Max Zaritsky of the Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers joined to form a Committee for Industrial Organizing within the AFL. The craft unions demanded that Lewis and his committee stop; Lewis persisted. This dispute came to a head at the AFL’s convention in Atlantic City in 1935, when William Hutcheson ,

5700-407: The WCLU at this time were the Sailors, Brewery Workers, Cigarmakers, Tailors, Stonecutters, Typographers, Iron Molders, Stage Employees, Musicians, Bricklayers, Printing Pressmen and Newsboys unions. In 1905 the WCLU changed its name to the Central Labor Council of Seattle and Vicinity , which was often called the Seattle Central Labor Council (SCLC) or simply the Central Labor Council. The council

5814-407: The War in Iraq. This 5,000-strong protest mirrored a much larger protest in Washington, D.C., on September 24, 2005. The nation's capitol protest included tens of thousands of anti-war activists. In 2005 the KCLC changed its name to the "Martin Luther King Jr. County Labor Council" (MLKCLC). In 2005 the KCLC charity division changed the name "King County Labor Agency (Community Service Division)" to

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5928-410: The West Coast and eventual President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). Although he was instrumental in rebuilding the strength of organized labor in Seattle, his conservative business unionism approach was very different from the Council's previous radical ideologies. During the Great Depression , many workers favored Beck's conservative style over the more progressive politics of

6042-461: The bigger West Coast city. Seattle had building contracts that rivaled New York City and Chicago , but also lost to Los Angeles. Seattle's eastern farm land faded due to Oregon 's and the Midwest 's, forcing people into town. Hooverville arose during the Depression, leading to Seattle's growing homeless population. Stationed outside Seattle, the Hooverville housed thousands of men but very few children and no women. With work projects close to

6156-421: The brick masons union, workers who sawed wood to build structures within the plant should be carpenters, and so forth. Those demands effectively ruled out any possibility of organizing the industry. In other cases unions within the AFL organized on an industrial basis: the United Mine Workers , the United Brewery Workers and the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union admitted to membership all workers in

6270-561: The building trades, all carpenters belong to the carpenters' union, the plasterers join the plasterers' union, and the painters belong to the painters' union. Each craft union has its own administration, its own policies, its own collective bargaining agreements and its own union halls. The first unions established in Russia in the early nineteenth century tended, by nature of the industries in which their members worked, to be craft unions: shoemakers , cordwainers (shoemakers who work with cordovan leather) and typesetters all worked, as

6384-429: The city emerged from the Great Recession , commencing when Amazon moved its headquarters from North Beacon Hill to South Lake Union . The move initiated a historic construction boom which resulted in the completion of almost 10,000 apartments in Seattle in 2017, more than any previous year and nearly twice as many as were built in 2016. From 2010 to 2015, Seattle gained an average of 14,511 residents per year, with

6498-430: The city's population by almost 50,000 in the decade between 1990 and 2000. The culture of Seattle is heavily defined by its significant musical history . Between 1918 and 1951, nearly 24 jazz nightclubs existed along Jackson Street, from the current Chinatown/International District to the Central District . The jazz scene nurtured the early careers of Ernestine Anderson , Ray Charles , Quincy Jones , and others. In

6612-464: The city, Hooverville grew and the WPA settled into the city. A movement of women arose from Seattle during the Great Depression , fueled in part by Eleanor Roosevelt 's 1933 book It's Up to the Women ; women pushed for recognition, not just as housewives, but as the backbone to family. Using newspapers and journals Working Woman and The Woman Today , women pushed to be seen as equal and receive some recognition. The Great Depression did not impact

6726-433: The city. In 1990, the Goodwill Games were held in the city. Three years later, in 1993, the APEC leaders was hosted in Seattle. The 1990s also witnessed a growing popularity in grunge music, a sound that was largely developed in Seattle's independent music scene. In 1993, the movie Sleepless in Seattle brought the city further national attention, as did the television sitcom Frasier . The dot-com boom caused

6840-512: The council combated statewide "Right-to-Work" open shop efforts enabled by passage of the national Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. The SCLC was a leading player in the defeat of these measures. [AFL–CIO] In response to Right to Work attacks the SCLC started a "pro-labor public relations campaign" in 1959. The campaign was a way for labor leaders to get their voice heard by using radio and television medians. It also donated to many charities and became involved in other civic activities. [AFL–CIO] By 1968,

6954-400: The council to join United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21. The MLKCLC's 2006 Labor Day picnic was covered by Seattle P-I reporter who interviewed labor leaders on the declining membership of unions, not only nationwide, but statewide, as well. Although 19% of Washington's workforce is unionized, across the nation only 12.5% of workers belong to a union. Labor leaders expressed a need for

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7068-511: The date "1869" and a likeness of Chief Seattle in left profile. That same year, Seattle acquired the epithet of the "Queen City", a designation officially changed in 1982 to the "Emerald City". Seattle has a history of boom-and-bust cycles, like many other cities near areas of extensive natural and mineral resources. Seattle has risen several times economically, then gone into precipitous decline, but it has typically used those periods to rebuild solid infrastructure. The first such boom, covering

7182-453: The early part of the 20th century, and funded many new Seattle companies and products. In 1907, 19-year-old James E. Casey borrowed $ 100 from a friend and founded the American Messenger Company (later UPS ). Other Seattle companies founded during this period include Nordstrom and Eddie Bauer . Seattle brought in the Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm to design a system of parks and boulevards. The Gold Rush era culminated in

7296-486: The early years of the city, rode on the lumber industry. During this period the road now known as Yesler Way won the nickname "Skid Road", supposedly after the timber skidding down the hill to Henry Yesler 's sawmill. The later dereliction of the area may be a possible origin for the term which later entered the wider American lexicon as Skid Row . Like much of the U.S. West , Seattle experienced conflicts between labor and management and ethnic tensions that culminated in

7410-426: The economic depression at the time. [Central] As a result of this defeat, the Knights of Labor and trade unions in the WLCU went into a period of decline. Although the WCLU aimed at promoting fair labor by operating its own employment referral "hiring hall," in 1893 public criticism of this effort arose centered around complaints of excessive fees and fictitious jobs. This criticism prompted the WCLU to collaborate with

7524-406: The ending of World War I in 1918 and the resulting layoff and economic depression. [AFL–CIO] The layoffs and regressive bargaining by employers post war led the SCLC to call the Seattle General Strike of 1919 . The strike had over 65,000 Seattle workers walk out, and was heavily supported by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Fears that the strike

7638-424: The fear of seeking health care. On June 17, 2020, MLKCLC delegates voted to expel the Seattle Police Officers Guild from the organization. Seattle, Washington Seattle ( / s i ˈ æ t əl / see- AT -əl ) is a city on the West Coast of the United States . It is the seat of King County , Washington . With a 2023 population of 755,078 it is the most populous city in both

7752-404: The fifth-largest LGBT community in the U.S. Logging was Seattle's first major industry, but by the late 19th century the city had become a commercial and shipbuilding center as a gateway to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush . The city grew after World War II , partly due to the local company Boeing , which established Seattle as a center for its manufacturing of aircraft. Beginning in

7866-606: The first permanent European settlers. Arthur A. Denny and his group of travelers, subsequently known as the Denny Party , arrived from Illinois via Portland, Oregon , on the schooner Exact at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. The settlement was moved to the eastern shore of Elliott Bay in 1852 and named "Seattle" in honor of Chief Seattle , a prominent 19th-century leader of the local Duwamish and Suquamish tribes. Seattle currently has high populations of Native Americans alongside Americans with strong Asian, African, European, and Scandinavian ancestry, and, as of 2015, hosts

7980-417: The founders of Duwamps, was the primary advocate to name the settlement Seattle after Chief Seattle ( Lushootseed : siʔaɫ , anglicized as "Seattle"), chief of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes. The name "Seattle" appears on official Washington Territory papers dated May 23, 1853, when the first plats for the village were filed. In 1855, nominal land settlements were established. On January 14, 1865,

8094-457: The greater Seattle area. The Council urged all of its members to honor picket lines, while offering strike benefits, as well. An estimated 2000–3000 restaurant employees and 5000 hotel employees walked out in a demand for higher wages. In 1984, the Council's 50,000 union members were asked to oppose levies proposed by the Seattle School District to show support for school custodians and other union workers who had been working for two years without

8208-411: The growth strongly skewed toward the center of the city, and unemployment dropped from roughly 9 percent to 3.6 percent. The city has found itself "bursting at the seams", with over 45,000 households spending more than half their income on housing and at least 2,800 people homeless , and with the country's sixth-worst rush-hour traffic. Seattle is located between the saltwater Puget Sound (an arm of

8322-401: The hilliest areas are near the city center, with Capitol Hill, First Hill, and Beacon Hill collectively constituting something of a ridge along an isthmus between Elliott Bay and Lake Washington. The break in the ridge between First Hill and Beacon Hill is man-made, a result of two of the many regrading projects that reshaped the topography of the city center. The topography of the city center

8436-504: The industry, or attached to it. Even in those unions, however, craft distinctions sometimes surfaced. In the ILGWU, for example, the cutters, who were often primarily of English, Irish, and German stock, were almost exclusively males, were better paid, and were typically more skilled, often looked down on the immigrant, largely female, unskilled "operators" who ran sewing machines in their shops or elsewhere. The ILGWU also tended to group its workers based on seemingly trivial distinctions between

8550-487: The larger effects of globalization in terms of issues like environmental protection and animal rights issues. The KCLC, along with many other pro-labor groups, voiced its concerns on "forced labor and substandard working conditions in developing countries, where increasing numbers of U.S. corporations were relocating to take advantage of cheap labor." The environmentalists and pro-labor activists protested side by side facing very aggressive law enforcement tactics that included

8664-418: The last person leaving Seattle – Turn out the lights." Seattle remained the corporate headquarters of Boeing until 2001, when the company separated its headquarters from its major production facilities; the headquarters were moved to Chicago. The Seattle area is still home to Boeing's Renton narrow-body plant and Everett wide-body plant . The company's credit union for employees, BECU , remains based in

8778-425: The late 19th and early 20th centuries were almost entirely from Guangdong Province . The Seattle area is also home to a large Vietnamese population of more than 55,000 residents, as well as over 30,000 Somali immigrants. The Seattle-Tacoma area is also home to one of the largest Cambodian communities in the United States, numbering about 19,000 Cambodian Americans, and one of the largest Samoan communities in

8892-456: The late 20th and early 21st century, the city also was the origin of several rock bands, including Foo Fighters , Heart , and Jimi Hendrix , and the subgenre of grunge and its pioneering bands, including Alice in Chains , Nirvana , Pearl Jam , Soundgarden , and others. Archaeological excavations suggest that Native Americans have inhabited the Seattle area for at least 4,000 years. By

9006-483: The mainland U.S., with over 15,000 people having Samoan ancestry. Additionally, the Seattle area had the highest percentage of self-identified mixed-race people of any large metropolitan area in the United States, according to the 2000 United States Census Bureau. According to a 2012 HistoryLink study, Seattle's 98118 ZIP code (in the Columbia City neighborhood) was one of the most diverse ZIP Code Tabulation Areas in

9120-497: The many ways the WCLU promoted their cause of workers' rights was through Labor Day Parades held on Labor Day . The parades represented every trade union of Seattle with AFL and Knights of Labor leaders' pictures displayed throughout the parade. [Central] Along with Labor Day Parades, the WCLU advocated for workers by obtaining direct control over its newspaper the Union Record in 1903 by buying it from its publisher. The Union Record

9234-606: The miners in Alaska and the Yukon . Few of those working men found lasting wealth. However, it was Seattle's business of clothing the miners and feeding them salmon that panned out in the long run. Along with Seattle, other cities like Everett , Tacoma , Port Townsend , Bremerton , and Olympia , all in the Puget Sound region, became competitors for exchange, rather than mother lodes for extraction, of precious metals. The boom lasted into

9348-469: The original landing location, reestablished their old land claim and called it "New York", but renamed "New York Alki" in April 1853, from a Chinook word meaning, roughly, "by and by" or "someday". For the next few years, New York Alki and Duwamps competed for dominance, but in time Alki was abandoned and its residents moved across the bay to join the rest of the settlers. David Swinson "Doc" Maynard , one of

9462-411: The population, Spanish was spoken by 4.5% of the population, speakers of other Indo-European languages made up 3.9%, and speakers of other languages made up 2.5%. Seattle's foreign-born population grew 40% between the 1990 and 2000 censuses. The Chinese population in the Seattle area has origins in mainland China , Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan . The earliest Chinese-Americans that came in

9576-464: The prevailing pattern of division of the workforce into "crafts" and "classes" and the separate craft patterns persisted into the late twentieth century. While both the Knights of Labor and Eugene V. Debs ' American Railway Union attempted to organize railroad workers on an industrial basis, those efforts were defeated, in some cases by government intervention, injunctions, and force of arms. The attempt to impose craft distinctions in other industries

9690-567: The production of Boeing aircraft. The war dispersed the city's numerous Japanese-American businessmen due to the Japanese American internment . After the World War II, however, the local economy dipped. It rose again with Boeing's growing dominance in the commercial airliner market. Seattle celebrated its restored prosperity and made a bid for world recognition with the Century 21 Exposition ,

9804-603: The relatively low wages of Mexico. In 1997, the KCLC sponsored a rally by the Washington apple workers with a demand for higher wages and better working conditions. The Teamsters and the United Farm Workers unions were heavily involved in the rally. Other sponsors included Jobs With Justice , the Washington Association of Churches and the Washington Alliance for Immigrants and Refugee Justice. In 1997,

9918-475: The renewal of organized labor tactics. In 2009 the MLKCLC supported the Metropolitan King County Council's decision to enact a "don’t ask" immigration law that prevents illegal immigrants from being forced to tell their immigration status when seeking public-health services or when dealing with sheriff's deputies. The King County Council said it was to discourage racial profiling and decrease

10032-471: The rostrum. The incident personified the conflict between craft and industrial organizing. The CIO proceeded to organize mass production workers on an industrial basis. The AFL's response to the challenge from the CIO was twofold: both fighting a rearguard action before the National Labor Relations Board to preserve its right to represent the skilled trades in many of the plants that the CIO

10146-415: The same issues other unions face: "worker rights, fair treatment, fair share of revenues and the right to bargain and speak without reprisal" were issues that every working person faced. In July 1989 the media highlighted KCLC's refusal to make a political candidate endorsement based on the pro-choice abortion issue. Women's rights advocates urged organized labor's support for the upcoming elections. However,

10260-586: The then unaffiliated Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA). The KCLC's affiliated AFL–CIO unions joined together with SPEEA during a 31-day strike against Boeing. As a result of the success of the strike SPEEA affiliated with the International Professional and Technical Employees Union and the KCLC. By 2003 the issue of immigrant rights came to the fore with then KCLC Executive Secretary Steve Williamson, voicing his support of

10374-465: The time the first European settlers arrived, the Duwamish people occupied at least 17 villages in the areas around Elliott Bay . The name for the modern city of Seattle in Lushootseed , dᶻidᶻəlal̓ič , meaning "little crossing-over place", comes from one of these villages, which was located at the present-day King Street Station . In May 1792, George Vancouver was the first European to visit

10488-463: The top of the ladder took their elevated status very seriously; as an example, locomotive engineers on many railroads made a point of wearing top hats and a good suit of clothes while at work to demonstrate that they did not get their hands dirty or perform manual labor. These craft distinctions in the railroad industry were remarkably long-lived; the Railway Labor Act , passed in 1925, recognized

10602-497: The type of garment they produced: among the locals created by the ILGWU in the first decade of its existence was one titled the Wrapper, Kimono and House Dress Makers' Union. Decades later, as the industry changed, it created sportwear locals. As long as the craft unions were the dominant power in the AFL, they took every step possible to block the organizing of mass production industries. This led to challenges from both inside and outside

10716-497: The union continued to treat them as second-class members until they seceded to form the International Woodworkers of America in 1937. Craft unionism has receded in many industries as a result of changes in technology, the concentration of ownership and jurisdictional conflicts between craft unions. Craft unionism has not, however, disappeared: it is still the norm in the airline industry, survives despite much upheaval in

10830-510: The union, rather than the employer; and dictating the processes, tools, standards, and pace of work. These traditions persisted into the 20th century in fields such as printing (in which the International Typographical Union would enforce its own rules determining how work was done in union shops) and the construction industry. Workers carried these patterns of organizing into new industries as well. The railroad brotherhoods,

10944-476: The unions formed in the latter half of the nineteenth century, made minute distinctions between groups that worked alongside each other; as an example, more than twenty years passed between the original chartering of the International Brotherhood of Stationary Firemen and the amendment of its charter to permit the union to represent the oilers and helpers who worked with them. Those who saw themselves at

11058-574: The unorganized workers which, along with W.G. Armstrong of the Typographers Union, worked to pass an ordinance by the city council which established the free employment bureau. [Central] The bureau was solidified by the charter provision and consolidated with the Civil Service Department in 1895. During this time, the charter reelected 15 freeholders from organized labor and addressed eight-hour work days and safety inspection of boilers in

11172-491: The used tear gas and curfews. Then KCLC Executive Secretary Treasurer Ron Judd, established a "Hate Free Zone" at the Seattle Labor Temple in the downtown Belltown neighborhood as a place where protesters would not be harassed by law enforcement. The first major labor action in the new century occurred in 2000 when the KCLC actively supported aerospace giant Boeing's striking engineers and technicians as represented by

11286-459: The woolens industry in Lawrence, Massachusetts , and many smaller strikes in longshore, agriculture and the lumber industry. In its first three years it was greatly hampered by deep political divisions, such as the question of unions engaging in electoral politics (resolved in favor of ruling out alliances with political parties). The IWW was seriously damaged by government prosecution and vigilantism in

11400-400: The work place. The late 1800s and early 1900s saw a growth in the organization and an increase in union memberships. In 1900 several new unions – Cooks and Waitresses Union, Barbers Union, Leather Workers Union and Telephone Operators Union – were organized and joined the WCLU. Due to the growth, $ 14,000 was raised to build a new Labor Temple in Seattle, Washington. [Central] Mainstay unions of

11514-501: Was a key supporter of the Populist movement, as represented by the organizing of the People's Party during the rise and fall of the progressive coalition from 1909 to 1917. In 1914 there labor shortages prompted unions to organize much of Seattle's workforce. The SCLC went through a radical phase which manifested itself as strong support for the progressive coalition. This momentum was lost with

11628-558: Was a radical effort to destabilize and overthrow the government doomed the strike, causing the AFL to pressure leaders to end the strike. A lack of common vision in terms of the goals of the strike is typically credited as the reason the strike failed to achieve the progressive reforms envisioned by the organizers. After the end of the Strike, employers organized an open-shop drive that de-unionized most of King County. The rise of more centrist labor elements post-strike led to power struggles within

11742-731: Was also changed by the construction of a seawall and the artificial Harbor Island (completed 1909) at the mouth of the city's industrial Duwamish Waterway , the terminus of the Green River . The highest point within city limits is at High Point in West Seattle, which is located near 35th Ave SW and SW Myrtle St. North of the city center, the Lake Washington Ship Canal connects Puget Sound to Lake Washington. It incorporates four natural bodies of water: Lake Union , Salmon Bay , Portage Bay , and Union Bay . Due to its location in

11856-448: Was born on August 30, 1968. The KCLC published the newspaper and distributed it to its 138 AFL-CIO affiliated unions and reached about 75,000 people on average. Its purpose was to keep members informed on union actions and it was known for advertising union businesses. A special feature of the newspaper included the KCLC's regular list of businesses to boycott . The Scanner was heavily involved in politics and often endorsed candidates from

11970-540: Was formed by the KCLC, called "Public in Public Education". Its focus emphasized funding for schools and education reform. Two months later, the KCLC threatened a boycott of Nordstrom , a popular local clothing store seeking to expand out of its Seattle base, after an internal battle between the company and United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1001. The union instituted a negative publicity campaign against Nordstrom based on unfair worker treatment that included

12084-534: Was founded in the immediate wake of the fire. The Panic of 1893 hit Seattle hard. The second and most dramatic boom resulted from the Klondike Gold Rush , which ended the depression that had begun with the Panic of 1893 . In a short time, Seattle became a major transportation center. On July 14, 1897, the S.S. Portland docked with its famed "ton of gold", and Seattle became the main transport and supply point for

12198-705: Was mildly prosperous in the 1920s but was particularly hard hit in the Great Depression, experiencing some of the country's harshest labor strife in that era. Violence during the Maritime Strike of 1934 cost Seattle much of its maritime traffic, which was rerouted to the Port of Los Angeles . The Great Depression in Seattle affected many minority groups, one being the Asian Pacific Americans; they were subject to racism, loss of property, and failed claims of unemployment due to citizenship status. Seattle

12312-646: Was not so successful. In the steel industry, for example, after the routing of the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers in its titanic strike against Andrew Carnegie 's steel operations at Homestead, Pennsylvania , in 1892, and the defeat, a generation later, of the 1919 steel strike , the craft unions within the AFL claimed that any attempt to organize steel workers must recognize their separate craft jurisdictions: workers who used bricks to build kilns or similar structures would have to belong to

12426-485: Was one of the major cities that benefited from programs such as the Works Progress Administration , CCC , Public Works Administration , and others. The workers, mostly men, built roads, parks, dams, schools, railroads, bridges, docks, and even historical and archival record sites and buildings. Seattle faced significant unemployment, loss of lumber and construction industries as Los Angeles prevailed as

12540-448: Was one of the whitest big cities in the country, although its proportion of white residents has been gradually declining. In 1960, whites constituted 91.6% of the city's population, while in 2010 they constituted 69.5%. According to the 2006–2008 American Community Survey , approximately 78.9% of residents over the age of five spoke only English at home. Those who spoke Asian languages other than Indo-European languages made up 10.2% of

12654-569: Was organizing and attempting to emulate it. Thus, within a decade of the founding of the CIO, unions that had been primarily craft unions, such as the International Association of Machinists , originally a railroad union with much of its membership in the construction industry, began to make serious efforts to organize on an industrial basis as well. Even the Carpenters took in sawmill workers who had organized on an industrial basis, although

12768-528: Was the "official organ" of the WCLU and it strived to exclude politics, emphasizing that it was "not a socialist paper." In 1891 Oregon Improvement Co. brought in hundreds of black laborers from the South into various mining towns in King County to break labor disputes. The Miners Unions responded by appealing to the WLCU for moral and financial support. In spite of strong support the mine owners prevailed in large part due to

12882-568: Was ultimately unsuccessful, it signaled a growing emphasis by the central labor council in grass roots organizing. The KCLC developed a Right to Organize Plan in 1999 for the Seattle Unions Now (SUN) program. SUN was a KCLC sponsored organization dedicated to capacity-building, multi-union efforts, ambitious unions and labor campaigns. The Right to Organize Plan focused on mobilizing, community and religious outreach, political accountability and organizing contingent workers. In November 30, 1999

12996-405: Was widely opposed by the U.S. labor movement and Lowry's announcement was not well received. The agreement proposed to allow the free movement of goods, services and investments between the United States, Canada and Mexico without restrictions. Labor's position in opposition centered on concerns relating to a wage "race to the bottom" if the higher wage U.S. economy was forced to compete directly with

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