Tensions Rise in the Puget Sound Salmon Wars
Striking fishermen are arrested after allegedly intimidating non-union workers at a local cannery, highlighting the struggle over labor control on the docks.
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 fishermen's strike is beginning to assume a rather serious aspect. Last evening, five union men were arrested by deputies on a charge of intimidating a non-union man named Peter Glaicenavich, who was working for Myers' cannery. The men were Peter Smith, Melia Behan, Eugene Behan, H. Scapolenda, and Joseph Spoza. Glaicenavich claimed that the accused threatened his life unless he stopped working for Myers by the month. The union men deny the charges, stating they are preparing to ship their own fish rather than rely on the canneries. George T. Myers, the proprietor of the cannery, stated, 'We have no fight against union men, but they have got to let the men we employ alone. They do not own the harbor.' Myers added that he is chartering the steamer Chinook to source fish from elsewhere, as his current crews have become scared by the union's tactics.
“They do not own the harbor, and if we can get fish for less that is our business.”
The late 19th-century 'Salmon Wars' between labor organizations and cannery owners were foundational to Washington's labor history. The conflict over who 'owned the harbor' and the reliance on imported labor to break strikes remain echoes of modern-day debates regarding gig work and the rights of precarious laborers.
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