Remembering the union impact on the Seattle WTO Protests in 1999

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DW Gibson

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One Week to Change the World

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DW Gibson, author of One Week to Change the World, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss his book about Seattle’s 1999 World Trade Organization protests and the impact unions had on the protests.

In 1999, more than 40,000 people converged in Seattle to protest the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference. From Nov. 28 through Dec. 3, a series of marches, direct actions and protests were carried out to disrupt the conference. The protests were intended to shut down the meetings, which would slow down and ideally prevent a new global trade agreement.

To help keep the story alive, Gibson authored the book to honor the 25th anniversary of the protests. The book is an oral history of the protests, with over 100 interviews that tell the story of individuals on the ground, including several union members, police officers and government officials. For Gibson, it was about telling the full story, from the internet becoming an organizing tool to the reasons behind the push against globalization.

Among the themes that Gibson discussed was the presence of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He discussed the reasons behind the Teamsters’ involvement and how they used union-organizing tactics to bring more people into the protest. Gibson explained that it wasn’t just the Teamsters involved in the protests but also the United Steelworkers among other that helped lead organizing efforts. Gibson said the book helps showcase unions' impact through community engagement and organizing.

Please listen to the show above for more on his book and the WTO protests.

America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

Remembering the union impact on the Seattle WTO Protests in 1999

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