The Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies is pleased to announce the release of Life Histories of Labor and Resilience: 25 years of Casa Latina in Seattle by Yvette Iribe Ramirez and Ricardo Gomez.
This beautiful collection of stories and images is the result of a project supported by the Bridges Center through a Washington State Labor Research Grant in 2019.
The book reveals the history and impact of Casa Latina – a non-profit immigrant workers rights organization – through life histories and testimonials by day laborers, domestic workers, staff and volunteers of Casa Latina.
Casa Latina was founded in Seattle in 1994 to support and empower Latino immigrants through employment, education and community organizing. This book is a testament and celebration of the success of Casa Latina in strengthening dignity, equity and employment opportunities for Latinos in Washington State and its dedication to social justice. Casa Latina has pioneered in day labor organization combining job dispatch with popular education and community organizing, to transform the lives of thousands of Latinos in Washington State. Casa Latina has helped workers grow from finding jobs on the street to organizing in a safe and dry space with dignity; to demand a fixed wage and clarify expectations for a day of work; to include women in the programs, most notably as domestic workers; and to learn occupationally relevant English in ESL classes.
This work forms part of a larger project, spearheaded by Associate Professor of the Information School, Ricardo Gomez, to document the organizations history which includes a bilingual multimedia web site and images and testimonies that will become part of the Labor Archives of Washington. The Labor Archives is already home to an extensive collection of Casa Latina's history.
The book is bi-lingual (English and Spanish) and is available to purchase on Amazon now.