A 1970 federal court order established minority hiring percentages for construction unions. Two years later, the United Construction Workers Association (UCWA), a minority group, protested Seattle’s ongoing non-compliance with the order. In early June, they closed down a number of construction sites around Seattle. Despite a temporary restraining order from the King County Superior Court, UCWA members gathered June 7 at a construction site at Seattle Central Community College (now Seattle Central College).

This photo shows UCWA protest leaders at the head of the march onto the Seattle Central Community College campus. From left, they are UCWA president Tyree Scott, state legislator Mike Ross, an unidentified man, and Samuel Martinez, head of the Chicano division of the University of Washington Office of Minority Affairs.

Caption information source: “UCWA Still Tough: Jobs or Shutdowns”, by Don Tewkesbury and Wayne Jacobi, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 7, 1972, pages A1 and A3.