Street Car Strike Becomes a Lockout
The Seattle streetcar strike has shifted into a lockout, with the company resuming normal operations despite union efforts.
The street car strike in Seattle has developed into a lockout of union men by the company. All cars are running today. The strikers may hold a mass meeting tonight to reconsider the whole matter. President Cornelius, of the San Francisco Carmen's union, is expected to take charge of the strike tomorrow or Saturday. Other unions are currently refusing to back the strikers unless they show more strength, making the danger of a sympathetic strike remote.
“The street car strike develops into a lockout of union men by the company.”
Transit labor disputes have been a fixture of Seattle history for over a century. This 1903 account captures the precarious position of early industrial unions when facing employer-initiated lockouts, a tactic that still resonates in modern labor relations.
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