Construction in doldrums; jobs bill on hold in Olympia
The line snaked outside Local 440 in Seattle's Central District, plumes of cigarette smoke rising among the silhouettes.
The union represents laborers, including many workers in the heavy highway industry: tunnel builders, pavers, flaggers.
Of its 1,300 nonretired members, about 600 are currently unemployed, and in the dark drizzle of a recent morning, dozens waited to sign a list at the union's roll call, a chance to stay eligible for any job dispatch that might come in.