The Eight-Hour Fight in Spokane
Laborers challenge contractor over mandatory eight-hour work day ordinance.
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.
Laboring men have hit upon a new scheme for going after Contractor James C. Broad, the man who works his men longer than eight hours while doing city work. Broad's action is in conflict with the city ordinance which provides that laborers on city jobs shall receive $2.25 per day of eight hours. Broad deliberately worked his men nine hours and paid them $2.25 a day. The matter is now in court as to the validity of the ordinance. The contractors are endeavoring to knock out the law. One laboring man who worked for Broad has brought suit against the contractor for time and a half pay for the hour overtime he was compelled to work. The total amount of his suit is but $18, but it is said there are over 100 other laborers ready to bring similar suits. If they win it will mean that the contractors will have to live up to the ordinance whether it is valid or not.
“The matter is now in court as to the validity of the ordinance.”
The struggle for the eight-hour workday and fair overtime compensation defined the turn-of-the-century labor movement in Washington. This story serves as a reminder that the basic protections of the modern labor code were won through individual lawsuits and collective pressure against contractors who routinely bypassed city law.
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