Special Section United Construction Workers Association

Video Interviews

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The United Construction Workers Association (UCWA) History Project, a worker led group organized by Northwest Labor and Employment Law Office (NW LELO), conducted  oral history sessions with former UCWA members on December 29 and December 30, 2003.

Below are streaming-video

The excerpts are each about a minute in length, in windows media format. A high speed connection is recommended for viewing them.
 

• Confronting racism: black trainees meet regularly as a 'Breakfast Club' to figure out how to overcome the biases of white journeymen on the job

• "It helped me to understand my class standing, as working class"                                                   

• "Their racism was so cold": Black apprentice resistance to white journeyman racism    
                      

• "Tyree saved my life"                          

• "Tyree was able to show me that we have certain rights as working class "                           

• "I told him: 'I came out of the cotton fields in Oklahoma with nothing, but I tell you what, I'm going to stand up for what I believe in.'"