The Daily Grind: Tacoma Workers Demand a Living Wage in 1892
A bold petition from local laborers forces the City Charter Amendment Committee to confront demands for a $2 daily wage and a nine-hour workday.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Among the petitions laid before the city charter amendment committee tonight was one signed by several workingmen demanding that $2 per day be paid on all kinds of city work, whether contract or otherwise, $4 per day to be allowed for teams owned by citizens, and that nine hours constitute a day's work. Should this petition, which was considered unconstitutional, not be acted upon favorably, the signers say they will be heard from at the polls in April.
“Should this petition, which was considered unconstitutional, not be acted upon favorably, the signers say they will be heard from at the polls in April.”
The 1892 struggle to establish a city-mandated living wage and shorter work hours echoes Seattle and Tacoma's ongoing modern debates over prevailing wage ordinances and labor protections. Today's movements for 'Green New Deal' style labor standards for municipal contracts are direct descendants of the workingmen who walked into Tacoma City Hall 130 years ago.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.