In March 1972, Teamsters Local 174 in Seattle walked out of work at the King County Humane Society, where they had been without a contract since the previous April. The Teamsters also filed an unfair-labor-practice charge against the Humane Society, contending that the non-profit had refused to bargain for a new contract. Waldo J. Dahl, president of the Humane Society, pointed at the city in a long-standing controversy over the organization's work, saying that the city appropriates money to the organization to pay the Teamsters.

In this image Carl Varness, left, Howard Dorschner, center, and Bruce Nelson, right, all members of Teamsters Local 174, picket outside the Humane Society. A standby crew continued to care for the animals at the shelter, which was taken over by the city on May 1 after the city was unable to reach an agreement with the society on terms for a new animal-control contract.

Caption information sources: The Seattle Times, March 29, 1972, p. 4; April 4, 1972, p. 20; and May 29, 1972, p. 27.
Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.