The Eight-Hour Day Crushed in the Senate
After intense debate and a dramatic attempt by organized labor to influence the vote, Washington’s eight-hour labor bill fails by a single vote.
The story, cleaned up
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The celebrated eight-hour bill was again defeated in the Senate this morning. It was Adams' bill that passed the House last week, and coming up to the Senate, it was defeated by what friends of the bill termed 'slight attendance.' Rutter gave notice of reconsideration, and the measure came before the Senate again this morning, creating long and wordy debate. The bill provides that eight hours' labor shall constitute a legal day's work on all work done by and for the state or any county or municipality therein. During the debate, Owings opposed the measure, asking why a man who worked for the government was better than a man who worked for an individual. Claypool doubted the efficiency of the measure but noted if it would not injure anyone, it ought to pass. President Wilson urged passage, citing the Republican party's platform promises. Representative Rutter of King County noted a petition with thousands of signatures was on file. After a series of parliamentary maneuvers and a passionate speech by Kneeland—who denounced the measure as 'political buncombe'—the bill was put to a final vote. Nine votes were cast against and seventeen in favor. With eighteen required for a constitutional majority, the bill was declared lost. Forty-three delegates from building trades unions in Washington and British Columbia, representing 10,000 workers, immediately passed a resolution denouncing the senators who voted against the measure.
“The laboring classes, however, would not be satisfied with the treatment accorded them by people who were merely looking in the direction of the next election. They were becoming more and more nauseated as the days went by because they were daily becoming more intelligent.”
This 1891 debate over the eight-hour workday echoes the ongoing struggles for labor protections and fair wages that define modern Seattle’s legislative climate. The tension between political promises made on the campaign trail and the reality of voting down pro-labor legislation remains a persistent theme in Washington State politics.
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