Archives West Finding Aid

Records related to:

• Rosenblum's involvement as founding organizer with Washington State Jobs With Justice (WSJWJ) including founding and organizational documents, 1993-1997. Including media clips, governing documents, and meeting notes. WSJSJ employed direct action civil disobedience tactics, working closely with the King County Labor Council to build labor unity and militancy and were part of the local labor movements’ resurgence in the 1990s that culminated in the World Trade Organization protests in 1999.
• Rosenblum's role as an organizer for the Union Cities Campaign, King County Labor Council, AFL-CIO, 1996-1997. Union Cities was a program launched by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney after he was elected, aimed at rebuilding labor strength and the labor movement’s ability to mobilize and organize through local labor councils. Documents here are both local and national Union Cities materials that describe the first year of the program.
• The formation of WashTech, 1997. In September 1997, three Microsoft "perma-temps" walked into the King County Labor Council and said they wanted to organize a union, inspiring what would become WashTech, now affiliated with the Communications Workers of America. Rosenblum staffed the initial effort to organize high tech workers; no existing union would commit to figuring out how to organize high tech "perma-temps." WashTech began within the King County Central Labor Council. These documents include materials from the organization's initial meetings and strategic discussions about forming a union within a largely unorganized industry.
• Rosenblum's directorship of Seattle Union Now, AFL-CIO, 1997-2001. Part of a nationwide AFL-CIO organizing campaign in selected cities, Seattle was one of the first four national sites chosen, Seattle Union Now (SUN), was a joint project of the AFL-CIO, the King County Labor Council, and local and international unions. SUN worked with local affiliates to organize workers on a large scale, building local union capacity, and training a new generation of member-activists and organizers. During the project's three and a half year span, SUN helped unions to organize workers in a wide range of industries (including UW graduate students). The documents include founding materials, meeting notes, and reports.
• The World Trade Organization protests, November 1999. As director of SUN, Rosenblum was closely involved in labor’s preparations for the WTO protests during the week of action. The records document his role in helping to create a coalition between SUN and Direct Action Network, environmentalists, international activists and students. Also recorded in the records is community’s collective response to the the Seattle mayor’s attempt to suspend free speech rights in downtown Seattle; the mass sit-in outside the King County Jail at the end of the week; and the drawn-out legal aftermath stemming from the police reaction and the mass arrests of activists. Some of the records include affidavits from legal proceedings following the WTO protests.
• The Florida Recount, November 2000. Rosenblum was one of many AFL-CIO staff people sent to Florida immediately after the November 2000 election to assist with ballot recount efforts. Rosenblum performed ballot recovery and did outreach to synagogues in Palm Beach and Broward counties, serving as a ballot observer in Broward County. The documents include his notes from community outreach work, original materials from the Broward recount canvass, and an email diary he sent home to friends during his 3 weeks in Florida.
• The WTO Anniversary Protest, November 2000. Rosenblum played a prominent role in the November 30, 2000 WTO anniversary protest as the King County Central Labor Council’s liaison with the city; working to ensure a peaceful demonstration without the level of confrontation of the previous year. The mood of the protest shifted when somone threw a bottle at a police officer. In retaliation, more than 140 protestors were arrested. Mayor Paul Schell intervened once the arrests happened and tried to release Rosenblum and two other labor leaders without charges while charging all of the other protesters. This became a controversy among newspaper editorialists and subsequently turned into a political problem for Mayor Schell. The records document the negotiations of Rosenblum and the rest of the labor contingent inside the jail with the jail director to win release of children who had been arrested in the street sweep. The documents include Rosenblum's statements and affidavits.
• Rosenblum's "Pro-Israel" rally arrest and of the subsequent fallout in the Jewish community, 2002. On April 30, 2002 Rosenblum and Rabbi Drorah Setel were arrested at a "pro-Israel" rally in the public plaza outside the federal building in downtown Seattle for holding up signs that called for equal human rights for Israelis and Palestinians. The rally, organized by major Jewish organizations to promote Israel and the rights of Jews, asked police to arrest the counterprotesters. Once inside the jail, Rosenblum and Setel insisted on getting charged so that they could defend free speech rights, while outside the leader of the local Anti-Defamation League--one of the rally organizers--demanded that the police to release them without charge. Rosenblum and Setel were released and the charges were dropped, but the event created a firestorm in the Seattle Jewish community on the meaning of free speech. The the ensuing controversy, the editor of the local Jewish newspaper was fired and a local Jewish labor leader was criticized by more conservative elements of the community for siding with the two arrested activists. This series includes news clippings, affidavits.