Seattle Worker Center records, 1977-1989

The Seattle Worker Center was a project founded in 1986 by local labor unions, the City of Seattle, King County, Washington State, and community/church groups to monitor plant closings, mass layoffs, business failures, and lock-outs, and to assist unemployed people in the Seattle area.

In 1986, the Lockheed Shipyard, located in West Seattle, locked union employees out, resulting in loss of pay and a hard-fought battle to gain unemployment benefits. Prior to the lockout, Lockheed demanded wage cuts and a restructuring of seniority from its union employees during contract negotiations. The shipyard decided the union took too long to vote on the latest contract and thus locked out hundreds of employees. Shortly after the lockouts, in 1987, Lockheed announced that the shipyard was for sale. In 1988, the shipyard shut down entirely.

Due to the lockouts and their subsequent impact on jobs in the Seattle area, the Seattle Worker Center established programs to support both businesses and workers. One such program was the Early Warning Network System, which was the first of its kind in Washington State. The Early Warning Network System identified and tracked businesses in distress that could ultimately lead to mass layoffs or total plant closures. The system aimed to make business support and technical assistance available to these companies and their employees.

Additionally, the Seattle Worker Center officially founded the Puget Sound Shipyard Industrial Jobs Commission in 1988. The commission contained a working advisory committee of over 30 organizations, including shipyards and maritime labor unions, economic planners and attorneys, and economic development experts. The goal of the commission was to find jobs that paid fair wages for the many dislocated workers in light of shipyard and plant closures.