The 1895 Bill That Would Have Made Firing a Union Man a Crime
A King County representative proposes jailing employers who sack workers for joining a union — or who demand a no-union pledge as the price of a job.
Olympia, Jan. 25. — Special. — Among the new bills introduced in the house today was H. B. No. 185, by McDonnell of King county, making it a misdemeanor for employers to discharge employees for joining or belonging to any club or other organization not organized in violation of law;
for making an agreement not to enter such organizations a requisite to employment;
or for endeavoring to persuade by coercion any employee from joining such organization.
The same session also drew petitions from Spokane citizens for better laws governing railroad freight rates, and a memorial in favor of state grain weighing and grading. The house adjourned until 10:30 tomorrow.
“Making it a misdemeanor for employers to discharge employes for joining or belonging to any club or other organisation not organised in violation of law.”
The 'yellow dog contract' McDonnell wanted to outlaw — a pledge never to join a union, signed as a condition of hire — stayed legal in Washington for decades and was only killed nationally by the 1932 Norris-LaGuardia Act. The fight it names is unrecognizable only to people who think right-to-work laws are a modern invention.
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