The Salmon Strike and the 'Foreign-Born' Agitators
Fishermen demand a pay raise from the Myers cannery, leading to threats, intimidation, and accusations of foreign influence.
The executive committee of the fishermen’s union has set a new scale, demanding 7 cents per pound for salmon instead of the previous 6. Mr. Myers of the local cannery has flatly refused the increase, leading to a standstill. Union men warned gill netters in the Duwamish river to stop fishing; Andrew Marino, a foreman, reported being threatened with death if he persisted. Mr. Myers, characterizing the union strikers as 'foreign-born idiots,' stated that he would close his operation rather than submit to the price hike, claiming the market for canned goods is already suffering from tight times.
“I have no use for such fellows... there is not one native born American in the gang.”
This dispute over labor costs versus the viability of local industry mirrors modern tensions regarding the gig economy and rising costs of living in Seattle. The xenophobic rhetoric used by the cannery owner against his workers is a stark historical reminder of the racial and ethnic tensions that defined early Seattle labor struggles.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.