Fruit Industry Faces Tensions as Labor Organization Mobilizes
Farmers and business leaders urge the governor to curb I.W.W. activity as agricultural workers demand an eight-hour day and higher wages.
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The State Council of Defense is currently working to prevent the curtailment of production threatened by labor difficulties. Logging and mill industries have been tied up across the state, and with fruit and grain harvests approaching, there is fear of a labor shortage. A committee of farmers and millmen has asked Governor Lister to declare the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) an outlaw organization. However, the Council has opted for investigation over drastic measures. The labor dispute is two-fold: growers face both a shortage of wages and a critical lack of shipping boxes due to logging strikes. The Agricultural Workers’ Organization, a subsidiary of the I.W.W., has issued a series of demands including an eight-hour day, time-and-a-half for overtime, and minimum wages starting at $60 per month.
“In no case is the wage to fall below $60 a month, exclusive of board and lodging.”
This 1917 standoff highlights the long-standing tension between the region’s agricultural profitability and the labor force that sustains it. Today's debates over farmworker rights and unionization in the Yakima Valley continue to reflect this foundational conflict.
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