The Price of Coal and the Cost of Control
When miners at Black Diamond challenged a shift from daily wages to piecework, the company boss opted to shut the mine down entirely rather than negotiate the rate.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A report reached Seattle yesterday that there had been a strike among the miners at the Black Diamond coal mines, and that the operatives had stopped work. In looking about town to find someone who knew the particulars of the affair, a reporter of the Post-Intelligencer ran upon B.B. Jones, superintendent of the mine in question, who gave the following version of the affair: 'You see,' said Mr. Jones, 'it is always necessary in a new mining camp to establish certain rules and regulations. Since we first commenced improving our property at Black Diamond we have paid our men by the day. This, of course, is the only satisfactory way until a mine is in condition to furnish steady work for experienced miners. Our mine being sufficiently opened, I notified the men some time since that we would hereafter pay them by the yard for their work, as is done in other mines; the price fixed was $7 per yard. The miners demanded $10 per yard. This I could not pay, and they yielded. On Sunday, however, they held a meeting, and decided that if they were set to work by the piece they must have $10 per yard for all the coal mined. In order that operations should not stop, I allowed them to go to work by the day until I could hear from the President of the company in San Francisco. I telegraphed him the particulars, and he authorized me to shut the mine down if the men held out. Accordingly, I telegraphed to the foreman yesterday to discharge all parties working by the day. There is little demand for any kind of coal in San Francisco; we have just finished loading the ship Blue Jacket, have no vessels in port, and none liable to arrive very soon; hence this is as auspicious a time as a strike could possibly take place.'
“I telegraphed him the particulars, and he authorized me to shut the mine down if the men held out.”
This 1885 dispute over pay structures—piecework versus hourly wages—echoes contemporary struggles in the gig economy and logistics sectors, where algorithmic management often replaces traditional negotiation. Just as in 1885, capital remains quick to leverage market fluctuations to discipline a localized labor force.
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