Court Upholds Union Pay Scale for Unspecified Labor
A local judge ruled in favor of a carpenter seeking the standard union rate, even when a specific wage was not explicitly agreed upon beforehand.
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 Contractor's association was up against the Carpenters' union yesterday in a case tried before Judge Garretson. I. J. McIlwain, a journeyman carpenter, sued S. A. Sayre, a contractor, to recover $21 for six days' work. Both parties admitted that there had been no agreement as to wages, and Sayre offered McIlwain $3 per day. This he refused, claiming that where there was no agreement the regular carpenters' scale of wages should be paid. The court sustained this claim and found for the plaintiff in the full amount.
“Where there was no agreement the regular carpenters' scale of wages should be paid.”
This ruling highlights the early 20th-century legal battles over labor protections and the establishment of industry standards in Tacoma. It serves as a reminder that the 'going rate' for labor has long been a site of civic negotiation and legal precedent.
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