Railroad Switchmen Walk Out in Massive Strike
Everett switchmen join a regional effort to shut down rail traffic from the Great Lakes to the Pacific in a fight for higher wages and safer working conditions.
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.
In a statement prepared by the press committee of the local switchmen's union, the striking workers addressed the public regarding the ongoing controversy. The union pointed out that despite reports of higher wages, most switchmen received far less, and that the rising cost of living had long since outpaced previous wage increases. President F. Q. Hawley emphasized that the strike was not taken lightly, noting that railroad work was hazardous and that they were seeking a 6-cent hourly raise, the elimination of overtime, and a reduction in Sunday work. Hawley stated that the strike would result in the most complete tie-up of railroad traffic the territory had ever seen, declaring that 'not a switch engine will move in the territory between the head of the lakes and the Pacific coast.' The Everett Trades Council subsequently passed a resolution pledging their heartfelt sympathy, moral support, and financial aid to the switchmen in their 'unequal struggle with the bloated giant corporations of the country.'
“We desire the interest and the help of all friends of the laboring people.”
This 1909 labor action reflects a period of intense industrial unrest in Everett, a city built on the intersection of resource extraction and corporate rail power. Today's debates over labor rights and corporate accountability in the Pacific Northwest continue to echo these early 20th-century battles between local unions and national rail giants.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.