The Nine-Hour Day: Seattle Carpenters and Contractors Strike a Deal
In a rare moment of labor harmony, the Seattle Building Trades Union and local contractors have agreed to reduce the workday from ten to nine hours while maintaining wages, setting a precedent for the city's construction industry.
The Seattle building trades union and carpenters have agreed upon a nine-hour proposition in the following resolution:
By the contractors and journeymen carpenters of Seattle it is resolved that from and after April 1, 1890, nine hours between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. shall constitute a day's work for all carpenters in Seattle; that $3.60 per day shall be paid to all competent carpenters; that overtime shall be paid for at the rate of 40 cents per hour; that the men shall be paid every Saturday.
Signed by Messrs. McEachen, Tomlinson & Gibson, J. W. Sandstrom, Stevenson & Walker, R. Campbell & Co., I. M. Bentley, C. J. Peters, Dewey & French, Robbins & Pope, H. J. Hanson, S. E. Clingan, F. W. Woodman, W. M. Morse, L. Sagooister, Hillyer & Green, C. W. Decker, J. H. Harrington, Paulsen & Putnam, H. C. Ingram & Co., Daniel Warner, J. Johnson, Island & Richardson, A. A. Seavell, F. C. Tubbs, James Parks.
At a meeting held last night the Carpenters' Union adopted the following resolution:
WHEREAS, The contractors having met our committee at a joint conference in a fair and honorable manner and adopted our propositions in regard to nine hours as a whole; therefore be it
RESOLVED, By Carpenters' Union 331, in regular session, that the contractor shall be judge of the competency of the men in employ; also, that there shall be no distinction between union and non-union men on the work.
GEO. M. COATS, President. L. T. Bacon, Recording Secretary.
This 1890 agreement is a fascinating early example of labor-management cooperation in Seattle, predating the more violent labor struggles of the early 20th century by decades. The specific demand for a nine-hour day (rather than eight) and the explicit clause prohibiting discrimination against non-union workers highlights a pragmatic approach to stability that contrasts sharply with later, more adversarial union battles in the city's timber and dock industries.
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