The collection contains administrative records of the Labor Party of Washtenaw County, including by-laws, correspondence, meeting minutes, and newsletters, as well as material, collected by party chairperson Michelle Kinnucan, related to issues such as the Detroit newspaper strike, living wage campaign, health care, and the environment.
The collection has been divided into three series. Administrative Records, Topical Files, and Videocassettes.
The Labor Party of Washtenaw County was formed in 1994 and then incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1996. The organization was known as Labor Party Advocates of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti until 1996. Its main goal was to help build local support for the national Labor Party, a political party which grew out of the national Labor Party Advocates organization in 1996. The Labor Party maintained that concessions to corporations by the two major American political parties had led to widening income and wealth disparities in the United States. The party opposed corporate influence on elections and government, and supported the right to a living wage, quality and affordable health care, quality public education, and the protection of the environment.
The local chapter of the Labor Party, particularly chairperson Michelle Kinnucan, was involved in a wide range of state and local issues, including the Detroit Newspaper strike in the late 1990s, and response to a Ku Klux Klan rally in Ann Arbor in 1996. The party, or Kinnucan herself, was also involved with organizations such as the Washtenaw Coalition for a Living Wage, and Citizens for Quality Health Care, which opposed cost cutting measures at the University of Michigan Medical Center in 1997.
The Labor Party of Washtenaw County has been defunct since 1999.
