The 'Unfair' Blacklist of 1910
The Everett Trades Council issues a sweeping blacklist of local businesses and contractors, pressuring workers to boycott those deemed hostile to union interests.
The Everett Trades Council has published an 'Unfair List' identifying local companies and contractors deemed hostile to organized labor. Among those listed are the Everett Railway Light Co., Sumner Iron Works, Knisely Printing Co., and various plumbing, barbering, and construction services. The council explicitly instructs union members to avoid these businesses, signaling the intensity of the industrial labor struggle in Everett at the time.
“Members of organized labor are particularly notified that the proprietor of the Viaduct caters to union trade, and that no unfair beer is sold at the Viaduct.”
This 'Unfair List' serves as a stark historical reminder of the localized labor battles that defined early twentieth-century Everett. While public-facing blacklists are less common today, the tension between local trade unions and non-union businesses continues to shape regional politics and regional economic policy.
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