"An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Minority Employment in the Seattle Construction Industry."

(pdf file)

From September to December of 1969, the Central Contractors Association (CCA), led by Tyree Scott, organized a series of protests against racial discrimination by the Seattle's Building Trades unions that effectively shut down hundreds of millions of dollars of Seattle-area construction projects. In early 1970, with the assistance of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Scott left the CCA to found the United Construction Workers Association (UCWA), which would serve as the main voice of the region's black construction workers for the next 10 years. Above is the founding document of the UCWA, "An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Minority Employment in the Seattle Construction Industry." Produced by the AFSC, the document served as a political organizing and fund raising tool for black workers as they sought allies in their struggles against Seattle's union establishment.