Spruce Workers Win 8-Hour Day
Government mandate establishes new wage agreement for loggers and sawmill workers in Washington and Oregon.
Workmen in the forests of the Pacific Northwest working for the government are to receive pay for eight hours at the same rate as the 10-hour pay heretofore in effect. For all time worked above eight hours in any day, they will be paid at the rate of time and a half. All differences between the men and their employers arising hereafter will be referred to Colonel Brice P. Disque, director of the spruce production bureau, and both sides will abide by his decisions.
“Workmen in the forests of the Pacific northwest for the government are to receive pay for eight hours at the same rate as the 10-hours’ pay heretofore in effect.”
This 1918 labor battle for the eight-hour day echoes the modern struggle for fair compensation and reasonable working hours, particularly in the Pacific Northwest's evolving labor market. The government's intervention to standardize wartime labor relations highlights how federal oversight often served as an unlikely arbiter in industrial disputes.
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