The Need for Mutual Aid on the Streetcars
As Seattle's transit lines expand, workers form a relief association to protect themselves against the high-risk reality of the job.
Arthur Munter was injured on the James street line on December 9. While a car was in motion, he was hurt, and although only a member of Friendship lodge, No. 1, of the Seattle Street Car Employees' Relief Association, he received aid and benefits. The association was organized July 11, 1891. During its brief existence, the association has done great good, and its aid is of such a substantial character that every man working on the street railway systems of the city should join. The work of conductors, grip men, motor men, and all connected with street railways is of a hazardous character. No man can tell when an accident will occur that may lay him up for months.
“The work of conductors, grip men, motor men, and all connected with street railways is of a hazardous character. No man can tell when an accident will occur that may lay him up for months.”
Before workers' compensation was a legal standard, workers formed 'mutual aid societies' to survive industrial accidents. This story highlights the precarious nature of early 1890s transit work, a recurring labor struggle in Seattle's growth years.
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