Shingle Workers Walk Out—and the Mills Threaten Open Shop
Chehalis County shingle weavers demand a wage increase; manufacturers say the current scale is all they can pay and promise to close indefinitely.
Hoquiam, Wash., Sept. 6.—As the result of a meeting of the shingle weavers' union held in this city Sunday, every shingle mill in Chehalis County will be shut down unless the manufacturers grant an increase in wages.
The shingle manufacturers have passed a resolution stating that the present scale of wages paid their employees is positively all that can be paid, and if a further increase of wages is demanded by the said employees, the mills will be forced to close indefinitely, and that an open shop edict will follow any strike.
The Chehalis County Shingle Manufacturers' Association also turned down the union's proposed schedule: packers, 10 cents per 1,000 for 16-inch shingles; knot sawyers, $4 per day working six men behind 10-block machines, $4.50 working five men behind the same, and $4.50 working three men behind a double block.
“The present scale of wages paid their employes is positively all that can be paid, and if further increase of wages is demanded by the said employes, the mills will be forced to close indefinitely, and that an open shop edict will follow any strike.”
Shingle weavers worked in one of the most dangerous trades in the Northwest, and the open-shop threat in Chehalis County was a direct challenge to union power. The fight over wages, mill closures and who controls the shop floor remains recognizable in today's labor disputes.
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