The Seattle Planing Mill's Radical Experiment
When their employer went bust, eighty factory workers in Seattle did the unthinkable: they organized a co-operative, took over the plant, and kept the machines humming.
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One of the largest woodworking factories in the city, the one formerly owned by Fred W. Woodaman, at the corner of University and Seventh streets, is now being conducted on the co-operative plan. The officers say it is running very successfully so far, though over one-third of those who first went into it have either withdrawn or been laid off.
Some weeks ago Mr. Woodaman found himself so situated financially that he could not continue to run his factory. He was perfectly solvent, but could not collect his outstanding accounts to pay his employees and meet his other obligations as rapidly as he was required. About eighty men were employed in the factory, to each of whom he owed from $100 to upwards of $200, and these liabilities aggregated about $13,000, the estimated value of the plant. The employees organized a stock company, each man taking stock to the amount of his claim against the factory, and Mr. Woodaman turned the entire plant over to them to be run on the co-operative plan.
It is now about six weeks since the new company filed articles of incorporation as the Seattle Planing Mill and Manufacturing Company. President George R. Waites, who has the general management, said, 'We feel confident of success... We propose to run it just the same as any other corporation. If any of the stockholders working here are dissatisfied in any way, let them get out and sell their stock or hold it as they see fit. If men are to be laid off we will lay them off whether they are stockholders or not.' The company already has between $10,000 and $12,000 worth of work on hand and contracts for furnishing the finish for some of the best residences in the city.
“Every man is interested in getting work and making the thing pay, and this of itself is quite an advantage.”
In an era where workers are often disconnected from the capital they produce, this 1892 experiment in co-operative ownership mirrors modern efforts to democratize workplaces. While the pressures of capital and turnover clearly existed then as they do now, the factory's survival—born from a necessity to recoup lost wages—remains a powerful example of worker solidarity during an economic crunch.
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