David Della grew up in a working class family in South Seattle in the 1950s
and 1960s. He attended Cleveland High School and the University of Washington.
Starting at age 16, he joined his father each summer in the Alaska canneries.
Though his father worked as a foreman for Alaska cannery companies, Della
would in time become involved in the fight to challenge company influence
in the cannery workers union, ILWU Local 37. In the early 1970s, he helped
organize the Alaska Cannery Workers Association (ACWA) to fight racial discrimination
in the industry and was active in efforts to reform Local 37. He was also
active in the movement to save the International District. Following the
assassination of Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes in 1981, the reformers took
control of Local 37. David Della held several leadership positions
in the reformed Local: first as Dispatcher, then a Contract Negotiator, and
finally for eight years as Secretary Treasurer. When Local 37 merged with
the International Boatman's Union (IBU) to become Region 37 in 1987, Della
became a national organizer with IBU.
After working for over a decade as a union activist, Della turned toward
government affairs in the late 1980s. From 1989 to 1993, he served
as Deputy Chief of Staff for Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, and later as
Director of the State's Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs. From
1999 to 2003, he served as Community Affairs Director for the United Way
of King County. He was elected to the Seattle City Council in 2003. David
Della's City Council home page is http://www.seattle.gov/council/della/.
David Della agreed to share memories of growing up in Seattle and his
activism in the labor and civil rights movements of the 1970s in
a videotaped interview conducted by Trevor Griffey and Lindsay Park on November 8,
2004. To the right are streaming-video excerpts of the interview,
each about a minute in length, in windows media format.
Problems viewing? Try Internet Explorer. Your browser may require you to authorize a microsoft add-on by clicking on the notice above. Then click the interview caption a second time. Mac users require a Windows Media Components for QuickTime. Click here for a free Flip4Mac download. |
Video Oral Histories
