Everett Labor Organizes for the Eight-Hour Day
The Trades Council mandates a local push for legislation and calls for strict union labeling in local businesses.
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At a meeting held at the Labor Temple on January 27, 1911, the Everett Trades Council addressed several key labor initiatives. President Moncur presided over the session. The Council voted to support the women's eight-hour bill, instructing delegates to urge their local unions to telegraph representatives in Olympia. A dedicated effort was announced to establish an effective Label League in the city to ensure workers support local, union-made products. Reports from the membership showed active resistance in the machinists' struggle for an eight-hour day, with local unions dismissing rumors that they were abandoning the fight.
“The machinists' fight is only one incident in the battle that will go on until every mill and workshop and mine shall work an eight hour day.”
Everett's long history as a union town is rooted in the early 20th-century battles for the eight-hour day and worker protections. The struggle to secure basic rights, from the 1911 Labor Temple meetings to today's modern labor environment, reflects a persistent civic argument over the role of organized labor in a company-dominated economy.
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