Domestic Workers Organize for Better Conditions
Kitchen hands and domestic servants in Spokane push for a revolutionary new union to secure higher wages, shorter hours, and rest periods.
The story, cleaned up
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To organize the domestics of Spokane into a union is the latest move of organized labor. An organizer has been canvassing the city's households, and many employees have signed an agreement to join. The proposed union scale includes minimum wages of $5 per week for first girls and $4 for second girls, shortened hours, extra pay for serving visitors, and a mandatory rest period daily from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., with no work on Sunday afternoons. The plan also mandates that employers provide proper quarters for domestic workers to entertain their friends.
“The maids are also to be provided with neat quarters in which to entertain their friends when not at work.”
The struggle of domestic laborers to organize for dignity, fair hours, and basic personal time is a recurring theme in the history of labor. This 1903 effort in Spokane underscores the historical invisibility of domestic work and the long-standing efforts of these workers to claim status as professionals.
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