Workers Take the Helm
Two union members have bucked the trend by purchasing their own mill, transforming a dormant business into a worker-led operation.
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.
A. K. Lutter and Otto Nelson, both charter members of the local shingle weavers’ union, have purchased the shingle mill known as the Everett Farm Mill Co., six miles south of Lowell on the Snohomish road. The new owners, under the name Union Shingle Co., are modernizing the plant by installing an engine and boiler. They plan to run day and night shifts with a daily output of 60,000 shingles.
“The Union Shingle Co. is the name adopted by the new firm and it sounds good to us.”
Worker-owned cooperatives were a bold response to industrial instability in the early 20th century. This story highlights the local ingenuity of Everett’s labor force when faced with market volatility.
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