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Northwest Labor and Employment and Law Office (LELO) records, 1972-2005

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Northwest Labor and Employment Law Office
Title
Northwest Labor and Employment and Law Office (LELO) records
Dates
1972-2005 (inclusive)
Quantity
26.21 cubic feet (23 boxes including 12 videocassettes, 2 audio cassettes, and 9 3.5" floppy disks; and 70 jpg files)
Collection Number
6514 (Accession No. 6514-001)
Summary
Records of a labor organization in Seattle, Washington
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Access to portions of the collection is restricted. Contact University of Washington Libraries Special Collections for details. Relicensing program records restricted until 2049. Users must obtain permission from LELO for access to these records until that time.

Request at UW

Languages
English
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Historical Note

LELO was founded as the Northwest Labor and Employment Law Office in Seattle, Washington in 1972 when Black workers from the United Construction Workers Association, Asian workers from the Alaska Cannery Workers Association and Latino workers from the Northwest Chapter of the United Farmworkers of America came together to work for racial and economic justice.

In the 1970s, LELO used the 1964 Civil Rights Act to file class action lawsuits and direct action as a means to empower workers of color and further support the grassroots organizing of the three founding groups. LELO’s first lawsuits were launched on behalf of Black construction workers, led by Tyree Scott and the United Construction Workers Association. Through LELO’s legal action and grassroots organizing, the number of Black workers in the Seattle construction trades rose from less than 10 in 1970 to more than 600 in 1979.

With money raised through the victories of their initial UCWA lawsuits, LELO was able to launch successful suits on behalf of Asian, Pacific Islander and Native Alaska cannery workers and then later, on behalf of farmworkers and their right to organize. In Venegas v. UFW-WA, LELO successfully fought an injunction that a ranch owner had obtained to deny farmworker organizers the right to enter migrant camps to meet with workers. This case set an important national precedent in securing access of union organizers to migrant farmworkers.

Two of LELO’s founding board members, cannery union officers Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes were murdered in 1981 on the orders of former President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos. LELO leaders responded to this tragedy by joining a broad coalition that became a national and international movement over an 8 year period that called for justice in the murders. In 1991 the Domingo and Viernes families were awarded $ 23.5 million in a precedent setting verdict that represented the first time a head of state of a foreign government was held accountable for the assassinations of U.S. citizens on U.S. soil.

Since the 1980s, LELO has organized to advocate for project labor agreements to increase employment of workers of color in large public works projects, advocated for creation of family wage jobs, and organized projects to promote international worker solidarity. In the 2000s, LELO worked to mitigate punitive traffic law enforcement that resulted in working people losing drivers licenses, and subsequently, their jobs. Its re-licensing program supported working with courts to restore driving privileges of workers in apprenticeship programs and in low-income communities.

In the 1990s, LELO was renamed Legacy of Equality, Leadership and Organizing

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Content Description

Organizational records include Board of Directors and financial records (1974-2003). LELO’s activities are documented in the Program, Event and Project Records (dates), which contain details of LELO’s programs as well as its work in conjunction with other organizations. A discrete part of these records relates to LELO’s Port Profit for Human Needs campaign of 2001-2002, including materials from street theater performance, video records, signs and posters, and other records. LELO’s re-licensing program case files (1999-2004) contain applications for and documents about resolution of restoration of drivers licenses to low-income workers.

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Other Descriptive Information

Forms part of the Labor Archives of Washington.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

To the extent that they own the copyright, the donor has transferred the copyright of the materials to the University of Washington; however, copyright in some items in this collection may be held by their respective creators. Users are responsible for researching copyright status before use.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged in 5 series.

  • Series 1, Organizational and Administrative Records, 1974-2003
    • Subseries A, Board records
    • Subseries B, Financial records
  • Series 2, Program, Event, and Project Records, 1983-2005
    • Subseries A, General
    • Subseries B, Port Profits for Human Needs Project
  • Series 3, Publications, 1972-2004
  • Series 4, Discrimination and Referral Case Files, 1996
  • Series 5, Construction Trades and Community Relicensing Program Records, 1999-2004

Acquisition Information

Donated by Cindy Domingo of LELO in 2024.

Processing Note

Ernie Dornfeld described and intellectually arranged this collection into series and subseries in Spring and Summer 2024.

Related Materials

Some LELO records are also in the Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilipino (KDP) [Union of Democratic Filipinos] records (accession 5889-002)

Tyree Scott papers (mss coll. 5245)

Beverly Sims papers (mss coll. 6203)

Cindy Domingo papers (mss coll. 5651)

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 

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Subject Terms

  • Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington)

Other Creators

  • Corporate Names

    • Labor Archives of Washington (University of Washington) (host institution)


2024 (Last modified: 8/2/2024)

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