The Bread That Wouldn't Wrap: How Spokane’s Bakers Went on Strike Over a Label
In November 1902, a dispute over union rules and bread packaging sparked a walkout at the Quaker Bread Company, revealing the complex web of labor alliances in early 20th-century Spokane.
A warm session of the trades council was held last evening at the union hall. The main topic of discussion was the trouble now existing between the master bakers and the Quaker Bread company.
The story of the trouble is given as follows by a prominent member of the trades council:
The Master Bakers' association succeeded in getting the bakers' union to pass a resolution that the members of that union would not supply men for bakers who did not belong to the Master Bakers' association.
Then the next move of the master bakers was to adopt a resolution not to wrap the bread turned out by their association.
The Quaker Bread company refused to come into the association under this clause and the members of the bakers' union were compelled under the resolution passed to stop work for the Quaker people, despite the fact that Mr. Harper, the manager, had agreed to pay the union wages.
The result of the meeting of the council last night was to rescind its former action of supporting the master bakers and it will leave the matter to be fought out by Mr. Harper and the bakers' union. It is a well-known fact that the retail grocers are behind the Quaker concern. The fact that the Quaker Bread company would not enter the association was all that was necessary for the bakers' union to call out its members from that establishment.
This 1902 labor dispute highlights how early unions often relied on 'secondary' tactics—boycotting non-union businesses or refusing to supply labor to specific shops—to enforce standards. While modern labor law has largely outlawed such secondary boycotts, the core tension remains: workers using their collective power to demand fair treatment and adherence to industry standards, even when management claims they are already paying union wages.
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