Shingle Weavers Push for an Eight-Hour Day
At their annual convention in Marysville, Washington, labor delegates debate the future of the industry and the path to a shorter workday.
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The eighth annual convention of the International Shingle Weavers' Union, held in Marysville last week, was the largest and most significant meeting in the organization's history. Forty-nine delegates gathered to discuss the welfare of the shingle weaving craft. A major point of the convention was the push for an eight-hour workday. Recognizing that the industry has long been handicapped by overproduction, glutted markets, and frequent, disastrous closedowns, the union believes a universal shorter workday would stabilize the market and improve labor efficiency. The delegates also voted to adopt a monthly button system, similar to the one used successfully by the Everett local, and donated one hundred dollars to aid the Industrial Workers of the World in their fight against police persecution in Spokane.
“The conclusion reached was that if the shingle weavers' union never raised wages nor shortened hours, if it taught its members to think and reason out cause and effect it would be fulfilling a great mission.”
The struggle for an eight-hour day and the internal debates over whether to affiliate with radical industrial unions versus craft unions defined the labor movement in 1910. Today, those same debates about labor's role in the global economy and the push for 'work-life balance' continue to animate discussions in Washington's evolving workplace.
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