The Third Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was held in Seattle from November 30 to December 3, 1999. Trade ministers and other officials from the WTO's 135 member nations met in an unsuccessful attempt to plan negotiations to further deregulate free trade. Tens of thousands of activists for many causes gathered to protest what they saw as the WTO's favoring of corporate interests over social and environmental concerns.

On December 1, the United Steelworkers held a peaceful march to the waterfront, with many of the 1500 marchers wearing blue union rain jackets, as seen in this photo. The marchers dumped mock steel beams into Elliott Bay in protest of foreign steel imports. Here, the Steelworkers Union marches down Broad Street towards the waterfront. The banner at front reads "Steelworkers for fair labor practice" and "Steelworkers supporting Headwaters Loggers."

This photo was taken by Ervin Schleufer, a member of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and retired member of the United Steelworkers of America Local 338. Schleufer was among the striking steelworkers locked out by the Kaiser Corporation in Spokane from 1998 to 2000. In 1999 he traveled the West Coast, with a group calling themselves “road warriors,” to connect with activists, get support for their strike, and raise interest in protesting the WTO conference in Seattle. Schleufer joined thousands of union members from across the country protesting at the WTO conference, and took photos documenting his participation in the street protests.

Caption information source: "Wednesday Dec. 1" by Alex Tizon, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 2, 1999, p. A18.