Gas Company Workers Walk Out Over Wages
Thirty-one men laying mains in Tacoma’s North End strike after being refused a 25-cent daily raise.
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.
This morning 31 men employed by the gas company in laying new mains in the North End went on strike for higher wages. The men have been receiving $1.75 for 10 hours' work and are asking for an increase of 25 cents a day. They sent a request to that effect to the company on Monday, but received no satisfaction, and today decided to quit. 'It is the hardest kind of work we are doing,' said one of the men. 'More than that, it is impossible for a man to support a family decently on such wages.' The men have another grievance in that the city employment bureau is sending men to take the place of the strikers. James M. Lee, Ed Mills, B. T. Engdahl, and S. A. Sunbaen compose a committee appointed by the strikers to bring their grievances before the public.
“It is the hardest kind of work we are doing. More than that, it is impossible for a man to support a family decently on such wages.”
Struggles over stagnant wages and the use of labor pools to break strikes remain central to labor organizing in Tacoma today. The complaint that a full day’s work does not provide enough to 'support a family decently' echoes the current conversation around the high cost of living in the region.
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