Shingleweavers Push for Living Wages and Health Protections
Organized labor in the Pacific Northwest votes to standardize mill pay and fight predatory company-mandated insurance schemes.
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The annual convention of the International Shingleweavers' Union, in session at Raymond, Wash., voted to raise the scale of shingle packing to 10 cents per thousand. A scale for power bolters was also adopted: bolters for less than 200,000 per day shall receive $3.50 per day, and bolters for 200,000 or more per day shall receive $4 per day. The scale for drag sawyers was fixed as follows: on mills with a capacity of 60,000 to 75,000, $3.50 per day; more than 75,000, $4 per day. A resolution from the Shingleweavers' union of Sedro-Woolley was adopted, pledging the convention to oppose employers forcing their men to pay $1 per month for insurance benefits; the charge was made that only about 15 to 20 cents out of every dollar paid for insurance actually reaches those meant to be benefited.
“The charge was made that only about 15 to 20 cents out of every dollar paid for insurance goes to the persons who should be benefited.”
The union's struggle against 'company insurance' that siphoned off nearly 80 percent of worker contributions echoes modern concerns over high deductibles and the lack of transparency in employer-provided benefit plans. These 1911 labor conventions were pivotal in establishing the collective bargaining power that shaped the industrial landscape of Snohomish County.
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