The Struggle to Organize Women in Labor
President Joseph L. Murphy receives a commission from Samuel Gompers to establish a Workingwomen's Union in Seattle.
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.
President Joseph L. Murphy, of the Western Central Labor Union, has been given an organizer's commission by Samuel Gompers of the American Federation of Labor. Murphy's first goal is to perfect the organization of the Workingwomen's Union, which had previously stalled due to disputes with the Knights of Labor. Murphy holds the authority to act in the name of the federation in founding new organizations of working men and women in the city. The labor movement in Seattle remains focused on organizing against unfair competition and tenement house labor practices.
“The union men say the system has been investigated on numerous occasions... and in every instance it has been condemned as degrading.”
Labor organizing for women, especially in the context of service and industrial work, was a fraught process in the late 19th century. This struggle for fair wages and representation parallels modern debates about gig workers and the service industry in Seattle.
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