The Sailors' Strike and the Scab Sailors
Tensions rise at the Seattle waterfront as the Sailors' Union strike continues, with shipowners bypassing union halls to hire non-union crews.
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 Contact Sailors' Union have opened a shipping office at No. 10 Main street, opposite the office of the Merchants' and Shipowners' shipping office, and yesterday shipped several crews to vessels taking all Union men. The shipowners claim that the sailors' strike is over and have notified vessel owners to get their crews through their office, and that the Sailors' Union has virtually ended the strike, as the coasting owners, thirty in number, have exhausted their patience and been to a considerable loss having their ships so long without recompense. They shipped a full crew of Union sailors who were willing to file without the orders of the Union. The new Union shipped about sixty men yesterday for the following vessels: schooner 'Zirinda', schooner 'La Grande', Altos 'Kishall', Fannie Hyde, J. H. Leeds, Lily, Ivy, General Ord and H. H. Knapp.
“The shipowners claim that the sailors' strike is over... as the coasting owners... have exhausted their patience.”
The waterfront battles of the 1880s defined Seattle's identity as a port city with a powerful, militant labor history. The divide between union labor and 'scab' crews hired by shipping magnates remains a core tension in the region's labor movement.
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