The Collapse of a Ballard Mill Experiment
A Ballard shingle mill abandons its profit-sharing model, citing employee friction and union wage pressures.
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The cooperative system adopted two months ago by the Ballard Shingle Company and its employees has already been abandoned, as it was not working well. The reduction of the scale of wages by the Shingle Weavers' Union has made it possible for the company to run on the old plan. The arrangement was that the employees should aid in other work besides their own special line, and for a time they did this willingly. However, it was not long before some began to complain that they were doing more than their share and objected to being taken away from their regular work. After returns were received on the product, the bill for shingle bolts was to be paid, then the manager’s and bookkeeper’s salaries; out of the balance, the workmen were to be paid the union scale. If there was anything left, it was to be divided pro-rata among all.
“It was not long before some began to complain that they were doing more than their share.”
This early attempt at cooperative ownership in Ballard echoes modern debates over worker-owned cooperatives and the 'gig economy' where job duties become fluid. The tension between union-mandated scales and profit-sharing schemes remains a central friction point in labor relations over a century later.
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