Spokane Phone Strike Sparks Boycott Threat
Labor organizers in Spokane threaten a city-wide boycott of the telephone company, though Walla Walla unions keep their distance.
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.
The Spokane Trades Council has notified the Pacific States Telephone and Telegraph Company that if terms are not made with the striking girl operators by Monday noon, a boycott will be declared throughout Eastern Washington. President George Ripple of the Walla Walla Trades Council stated: 'The action of the Spokane council will not draw Walla Walla trades unions into the controversy. It is for the Trades Council of Spokane and the striking telephone girls to settle with the company. Further, the operators in the Walla Walla office are not organized and as far as I know there is no controversy between the local operators and the management of the telephone company.'
“If terms are not made with the striking girl operators by Monday noon a boycott will be declared throughout Eastern Washington.”
This 1903 labor struggle highlights the precarious status of early telecommunications workers—mostly women—and the regional reach of early 20th-century labor disputes in the Pacific Northwest.
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