Laundry Workers Strike and Win
A week-long walkout by Everett laundry workers ends in a landmark victory for organized labor.
One week marked the duration of the laundry workers' strike. From Monday morning to Saturday evening, the battle waxed furious, neither side asking nor giving quarter. Saturday evening, a conference between employers and employees resulted in a committee being appointed to arrange a settlement. The strike ended in a victory for the workers. The terms included a straight 10 percent increase over the previous scale for all inside help, reinstatement for every striker to their old position, and a two-year signed scale. Public sentiment was an overwhelming factor in the victory, as the wages were clearly inadequate to meet the needs of the workers. During the strike, the Labor Temple looked like a big laundry, filled with soiled and clean linen as the workers engaged in a whirlwind soliciting campaign. The success proved the power of solidarity and collective effort among working women.
“It was the fact that these girls came out in a body, not knowing how long it would take nor how near starvation they might be, that won the admiration of the public.”
The laundry strike of 1910 echoes modern efforts by service industry workers to organize for better pay and safe conditions in Everett. While the tactics have moved from physical picket lines at the Labor Temple to digital advocacy, the core tension between living wages and employer resistance remains a central theme in the city's labor history.
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