Maritime Standoff in San Francisco Spills into Tacoma
Shipping owners lock sailors into round-trip contracts to circumvent a San Francisco engineers' strike.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The crew of the steam schooner Charles Nelson, loading lumber at the St. Paul mill dock, was signed yesterday by Deputy Shipping Commissioner Swift. They were signed for the round trip, and it is now learned that the vessel's owners were anxious to have this done to insure their vessel getting back. The marine engineers are on strike in San Francisco, and if the engine room crew had signed for the trip south only, they could have walked ashore and left the owners with a loaded vessel on their hands. As it is now, they are compelled to make the round trip. The engineers are demanding $1 an hour for all overtime.
“If the engine room crew had signed for the trip south only, they could have walked ashore and left the owners with a loaded vessel on their hands.”
Labor disputes in the maritime industry were a constant friction point for Tacoma’s port economy in the early 1900s. The tactic of forcing round-trip contracts to avoid labor-held ports remains a classic maneuver in the history of industrial labor control.
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