Machinists Break the 'Open Shop' Blockade
A Seattle manufacturing firm finds their 'non-union' waiting list empty, forced to return to the union to keep their machinery running.
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 Metal Trades' Association fell down with a thud when the Marine Pipe Machinery Co., of Seattle, called on them yesterday to furnish skilled machinists. The Marine Pipe Co. let its union men go on the advice of the Metal Trades' Association and joined the unfair shops in Seattle. Work began to pick up. The Metal Trades assured all its loyal members that it had plenty of skilled non-union machinists on the waiting list. But when the Marine Pipe Co. called for men yesterday there were none forthcoming. Therefore, the Marine Pipe Co. withdrew from the strike, sent to union headquarters for men, and union men are now working there under union conditions.
“The Metal Trades' Association fell down with a thud when the Marine Pipe Machinery Co. called on them yesterday to furnish skilled machinists.”
This 1910 labor dispute highlights the era's 'open shop' movement—a precursor to modern right-to-work legislative efforts—and demonstrates how tight labor markets have historically forced even anti-union firms to capitulate to organized labor demands.
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