Longshoremen Wage Battle at the Docks
Tensions boil over as the Pacific Coast Steamship Company attempts to slash wages and break the power of the longshoremen's union.
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Trouble is feared today between the Seattle longshoremen and the Pacific Coast Steamship Company as the company moves to discharge cargo using non-union labor. The conflict stems from a directive issued by Goodall, Perkins Co., agents for the company, to cut wages from 50 cents to 40 cents an hour. The Longshoremen's Union has formally refused the reduction, setting the stage for a standoff. Beyond the pay cut, the company is demanding the right to use ship crews to handle freight, a task historically controlled by the longshoremen at the docks. W. M. Davis, the company's stevedore, has been actively hiring strike-breakers and has secured promises of police protection from Mayor Ronald and Chief of Police Willard. The conflict reached a flashpoint yesterday when a group of union members confronted Davis, though the exchange remained verbal. The struggle over union recognition and the ability to dictate labor conditions remains the core of the dispute.
“They wanted to know what right he had to hire men to take their places, and he told them he had the same right that he had to breathe.”
This strike reflects the brutal labor relations of 1890s Seattle, where the push for corporate efficiency through wage cuts and de-unionization consistently met the resistance of organized workers. These waterfront battles defined the city’s civic identity as a fierce, union-heavy industrial port for decades to come.
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