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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1883 | 3 |
| 1887 | 2 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 1 |
| 1894 | 1 |
| 1895 | 4 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1909 | 2 |
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| 1911 | 1 |
22 stories matching overwork
- The Human Machine: An 1876 Warning on Burnout
A century-and-a-half-old editorial from Snohomish reminds us that the pressure to keep working is not a modern invention.
- Postmaster Cuts Hours Over Low Pay
Seattle's post office will close earlier as the postmaster struggles with inadequate funding to support his staff.
- Employer Fined for Overworking Female Staff
A state labor official cracks down on local violations of the ten-hour work law for women.
- A Fatal Nap on the Tracks
A tired freight brakeman, exhausted by days of overwork, pays the ultimate price after falling asleep on the job.
- Tragic Death of a Laborer on the Moxee
A young man employed by the Yakima Land Company dies suddenly after strenuous work clearing land.
- A Father’s Hardship and the Telegram That Changed Everything
An overworked, weary business man contemplates his supposed failures until a birthday message from his daughter provides a new perspective on success.
- The Slaughterhouse Tragedy
A young worker’s mental health decline is met with the blunt reality of institutionalization.
- The Teachers' Pay Gap
An editorial from 1887 argues that Seattle’s teachers are overworked, undervalued, and paid significantly less than city laborers.
- Employers Fight Washington's Eight-Hour Law for Women
Employers traveled to Olympia by special train to argue that women workers didn't want shorter hours, sparking a legislative firestorm.
- The Price of Industrial Growth
A scathing critique of Teddy Roosevelt's 'Homes Commission' report reveals the deadly reality behind the era's industrial boom.
- U.S. Treasury Secretary Visits Tacoma
Leslie M. Shaw delivers an impromptu address at First Presbyterian Church, urging young men to embrace a 'strenuous existence.'
- The Case for a National Telegraph Service
A scathing editorial argues that the Western Union monopoly overcharges the public and mistreats employees, calling for government intervention.
- The Labor Fight Against Tuberculosis
Everett’s organized labor movement joins a national campaign to combat the 'White Plague,' an occupational disease hitting mill and factory workers the hardest.
- The Horror at Fort Steilacoom
A former minister exposes systemic abuse and torture at the territorial hospital for the insane.
- The Audit Error That Almost Sent a Clerk to Prison
A tragic mix-up of names and a hurried stamp by an overworked clerk led to a major forgery indictment against a Seattle county employee.
- A Pioneer's Final Day in Hanaford Valley
Theophilus Hanaford, the first settler of the valley that bears his name, died suddenly while working on his farm.
- The Unseen Labor of a Household
A spicy letter from a 'Little Worker' challenges a farm editor’s complaints about the difficulty of finding domestic help.
- The Editor Who Worked Himself to Death
Seattle Post-Intelligencer editor George H. Heilbron, warned by his doctor to rest, toiled on until his brain gave out — and nearly the whole city turned out to bury him.
- The Parade Ground Is Now a Ward: A Visitor Walks the Territory's Asylum
Where the 4th Infantry once drilled to fife and drum, a correspondent finds sagging fences, two overworked keepers to a men's ward, and a lone matron holding the women's department — all on an appropriation he calls 'a shame to our people.'
- The Treasurer Who Said Getting Elected Cost Too Much to Cut His Salary
County Treasurer Maple answered charges that he had broken a campaign pledge on office expenses with a defense of overwork, new tax laws and the price of his own election.
- The Seattle Editor Who Worked Himself to Death in a Bathroom
George H. Heilbron, editor-in-chief of the Post-Intelligencer, was only 38 when apoplexy killed him at his Cherry Street home. His doctor blamed years of nervous exhaustion from overwork.
- Seattle's 1895 Warning: Secure Cedar River Water Before Private Speculators Do
City Engineer R. H. Thomson says Seattle's overworked pumps cannot survive another summer and urges the city to buy the Cedar River watershed, dams and reservoir sites while it still can.
Also about this, in other words
- The Eight-Hour Day as a Moral Mandate
A fiery editorial argues that the eight-hour movement is the most significant moral and social reform of the age, transcending the 'superior intelligence' of lawyers and editors.
- The Eight-Hour Day That Was Amended to Death
A bold proposal to limit public works labor to eight hours faces a grim fate in the Washington State Senate, where 'amendments' have stripped the bill of its power before it can even reach the House.
- The Hidden Labor of the Kitchen
A late 19th-century editorial critiques the grueling, unregulated work conditions of domestic servants in Seattle households.
- The Radical Defense of Sweat Equity
In an 1876 editorial, a fierce local voice challenges the city’s idle wealthy to stop 'illustrating fashion's caprices' and embrace the dignity of physical labor.
- The Long Siege for the Eight-Hour Day
For over a year, Everett's machinists have held the line against Pacific Coast manufacturing giants in a battle for shorter hours.
- The Wage War in the Schoolhouse
A fiery public disagreement erupts in the press over whether teachers are overpaid or simply under-appreciated laborers.
- Congress Enacts the Eight-Hour Day
A national rail strike is narrowly avoided as federal law mandates an eight-hour basis for railroad workers' pay.
- The Rising Cost of Living Hits Washington Workers
As inflation outpaces wage growth, labor organizers argue that true relief for the worker can only be found in shorter hours and better conditions.