The Eight-Hour Work Day Comes to Seattle Municipal Contracts
In June 1899, the Seattle City Council passed a resolution mandating that all municipal contractors must limit their employees to an eight-hour work day.
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.
The city council held its regular monthly business meeting last night and disposed of a considerable amount of routine matter. The proposed franchise for the Seattle & San Francisco Railway & Navigation company passed. A resolution providing that all contractors on municipal works shall not allow their employees to work more than eight hours per day was passed. A number of ordinances, calling for the construction of sewers on Queen Anne Hill, and the replacing of several streets, were passed. An ordinance was passed for the improvement of Third Avenue North, from John Street to Aloha Street, by the construction of a sewer, by the local improvement bond system. An ordinance appropriating $100 for the relief of Mrs. C. V. Graham, widow of Fireman Graham, who lost his life in March while answering a fire call, was also passed. The council adjourned, to meet again this evening at 8 o’clock, when the matter of municipal ownership of street railways will be brought up.
“A resolution providing that all contractors on municipal works shall not allow their employees to work more than eight hours per day was passed.”
While Seattle today grapples with the complexities of public works, private development, and the expansion of light rail, the 1899 council's move to limit the workday represents a foundational moment in the city's labor history. The debate over 'municipal ownership of street railways,' which the council adjourned to discuss that very evening, mirrors modern discussions regarding public transit and the control of infrastructure.
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