USW History Part of Flag Display

A piece of USW history will be on display at a Seattle museum this year as part of an exhibit honoring the history of the American flag.

Seattle's Museum of History and Industry is marking the nation's 250^th birthday with a show entitled "For Which It Stands: The Many Threads of the American Flag." Included as part of that display, which runs through November 15, is a flag-adorned Steelworkers T-shirt that USW activist Erv Schleufer wore during the 1999 "Battle in Seattle."

In the fall of that year, thousands of USW members joined more than 50,000 protesters in a massive series of demonstrations that effectively shut down World Trade Organization meetings. The protests are widely credited with bringing workers' rights, environmental concerns and other issues to the forefront of the debate about global trade.

In addition to a stylized American flag, Schleufer's shirt includes the signatures of numerous other union activists who joined him at the historic protests.