Ballard Shingle Mill Workers Organize
A wage reduction sparks the formation of a 500-member labor union in the shingle mill district.
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 shingle mills of the Stimson Mill Company and the Seattle Cedar Lumber Company are idle on account of the strike of the employes against the proposed reduction of wages and there is no sign of a settlement of the strike. Both mills started on Thursday morning but stopped after a few hours and no attempt was made to run yesterday. McVay & Sinclair ran their double block machine all day at the old wages and Auld's, Overton's, Donoghue's and Jameson & Dixon's mills are all running at the same terms. It is claimed that the smaller mills can better afford to pay the old wages, as the members of the firm often work in the mill themselves and make easier terms for payment of the men. The strikers claim that the manufacturers make a profit of 15 cents per thousand, which, they say, is enough, but the latter reply that this is not too large a margin for interest on capital and the risk of bad debts. This reduction is the third of 10 per cent within two years and it has caused the organization of a labor union of 500 members, to which any resident of the town may be admitted, on Thursday night. The meeting was preceded by a parade of about 900 men headed by the Columbia brass band.
“This reduction is the third of 10 per cent within two years and it has caused the organization of a labor union of 500 members.”
Ballard was once the 'Shingle Capital of the World,' and its labor history was defined by these mill strikes. Today, those same waterfront properties host high-end residential and commercial developments, far removed from the era of independent shingle weavers organizing for 15-cent margins.
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