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In 1914, the population in Seattle had risen to over 240,000. In July of that same year, the 38-story Smith Tower was opened, and amazingly remained Seattle’s (and the West Coast’s) tallest building until 1962 when the Space Needle was built.
The second decade of the 20th Century may have been the most explosive and intense period for organized labors’ young existence. The Pacific Northwest was an especially volatile area of the country with many workers forming Unions, and the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) promoting their One Big Union philosophy. Employers with money and political power on their side fought back brutally and without thought for anything but power and their bottom line.
Between 1911-1917, Seattleites saw the construction of the Lake Washington Ship Canal which included two major ‘cuts’, the Montlake Cut and the Fremont Cut; and the building of the Government Locks in Ballard. Growth during this period was almost all concentrated in lumber and maritime. By 1915, the First World War was in full swing in Europe and shipbuilding in Seattle was booming; this was reflected by the increase of membership numbers in Local 46.
In 1915, Local 46 elected Thomas Lee and George McGivary as delegates to the 13th International Convention held in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
IWW Shingle mill workers in Everett.
On Sunday, November 5, 1916, the bloodiest battle in Pacific Northwest Labor History took place. Five months into a strike of shingle mill workers in Everett, about 300 hundred members of the IWW gathered at the IWW Hall in Seattle and marched down to the docks where they boarded the steamers Verona and Calista, and sailed up to Everett to attend a rally in support of the shingle workers.
Wobblies on the way to Everett.
The Wobblies, singing as they left Seattle, had no idea of the reception they were about to receive on the docks of Everett. The business interests had heard the Wobblies were headed to Everett and had hired vigilantes led by Sheriff Donald McRae, who disliked Unions, especially the IWW.
Verona at the Everett dock.
As the Verona was attempting to dock, Sheriff McRae called out, “Boys, who is your leader?” and the call came back from the Verona, “We’re all leaders.” As they started to swing out the gang plank, McRae drew his pistol and said they could not land. One Wobblie came up front and said, “The hell we can’t.”
Everett dock and Newspaper heading.
Just then, a single shot rang out. It was never determined who it came from. The shooting lasted for around ten minutes. When the shoot-out began, men ran to the far side of the Verona, almost capsizing the vessel. The weight of so many men against the ship’s railing caused it to break, and many of the men ended up in the water.
Although five IWW men on the Verona were shot dead, (Felix Baran, Hugo Gerlot, Gustav Johnson, John Looney, Abraham Rabinowitz), two deputies were also killed. Many more were killed, but were never accounted for because they went overboard, either shot or drowned, when the Verona almost capsized.
Memorial Service.
It is speculated that as many as twelve IWW members were killed. Months later many bodies eventually were washed ashore. The two deputies, it seemed, were shot in the back by other deputies and one of the widows kept her husband’s jacket to prove the point.
Burial
Upon returning to Seattle, 75 Wobblies were arrested, including the IWW leader Thomas H. Tracy. They were taken to the Snohomish County Jail in Everett and charged with murdering the two deputies. On May 5, 1917, after a two month trial, Tracy was acquitted by a jury on all counts and the charges were dropped against the remaining 73 defendants and released from jail. Three of the dead IWW members are buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery on Queen Anne Hill.
In 1917, Local 46 elected Delegates George McGivary and Lewis Bertsch to the 14th IBEW Convention held in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This was also the start of the International reporting on the number of members each Local can have vote at the convention, which equals the number of members belonging to the Local. In 1917, Local 46 had 364 members.
The first minutes from this period were for January 18, 1918. The meeting began at 7:30 p.m. and it was noted that the meeting was a continuation of the previous meeting in regard to By-Law changes and adoption.
On January 29, 1918, the members voted to concur with the Metal Trades Council in condemning the efforts to put shipyard workers on a 10-hour work day. At the same meeting the members voted to concur with the Metal Trades in endorsing Anna Louise Strong for the Seattle School Board. Anna Louise Strong was eventually recalled in a close vote because of her beliefs and the unpopular stands she would take.
The first mention of Local 46 was in the International Electrical Worker Journal under the Local Directory section. It announced that Local 46 met every Tuesday evening at the Labor Temple on 6th and University Street, in room 13. We have two General Meeting minute books from this decade; one for 1918 and one for 1918-1919. The meetings began at 7:30 p.m. and were seldom finished before 11:30 p.m.
At the February 12th meeting, the members voted to subscribe for two months to the Daily Union Record. The Daily Union Record was the voice of labor from 1899 until 1928. It truly was a paper for workers. Full of articles concerning Unions, not just in the Seattle area and the Pacific Northwest, but nationally. It also had a “Do Not Patronize” list of businesses who were unfair to workers. It perhaps had its finest hour in reporting on the Seattle General Strike. The Local, on many occasions, bought subscriptions or shares in the Daily Record.
At the March 19th meeting, the wage scale voted on was as follows:
Job Foreman w/3 or more Journey Wiremen-Per Day $8.00
Journeyman Wireman $7.00
Shop and Fixtureman $6.00
Apprentice Wireman & Fixture Fixtureman $3.50
Apprentice Maintenance Men $3.50
Maintenance Men-Per Month (6 day week) $125.00
Many issues concerning female workers came up on the floor during these years. There were many women working in the telephone industry and other branches of our Union. The Local sent one of its members, Sister Lucille Mason, as a Delegate to the Washington Women’s League in Tacoma. Sister Mason was also appointed as a Delegate to the Metal Trades Council. The Local also instructed our Central Labor Council delegates to ensure the election of Sister Blanche Johnson as an Organizer for the CLC.
At a Local meeting in March, the Business Manager was instructed to make sure that the By-Laws were lived up to in regards to double time on Saturday afternoons for the “girls” at Ne Page & McKinney Electric Company. Margaret Whitten applied for membership in March; and in August of the same year, by unanimous consent, Sister Whitten became the Financial Secretary.
The May 18th meeting minutes declared that Saturday was a half-day holiday and was in effect at the “wooden” yards as well as the steel yards. During this period, and for many meetings thereafter, there was reference to a jurisdictional dispute over crane operations with the Steam and Operating Engineers. One member, particularly fired up on the subject, refers to the Scab and Operating Engineers. This issue becomes a real donnybrook with members refusing to repair or maintain any cranes operated by the Engineers. The Metal Trades Council became involved and the Local received a letter from our International President, J. J. McNulty, stating to not give up any jurisdiction to the Engineers. There was no reference as to what the outcome or resolution to this issue was, but we do know that, before mechanization of the electric bridge cranes in the shipyards, they were manned by Local 46 members.
On July 18, 1918, the Local went on record supporting the Central Labor Council’s position in regard to Thomas Mooney, who had been tried and convicted for the Preparedness Day Bombing on July 22, 1916, in San Francisco. Ten people lost their lives and forty more were injured in the explosion. Mooney was a member of the Iron Molders Union, originally sentenced to death, his sentence was commuted after President Woodrow Wilson became involved. By 1939, evidence of perjury and false testimony at the trial had become overwhelming. Mooney was pardoned and released after serving 22 years in prison for a crime he never committed. The Thomas Mooney case is mentioned many times at Local 46 meetings and some believe that the Mooney injustice bled over into other issues like the coming Seattle General Strike!
At the October 3rd meeting, the following motion was made and carried, “This Local recognizes no settlement by the Metal Trades, where settlement was not submitted for a referendum by various Local interests.” It was clear that members wanted a say in any agreement negotiated by the Metal Trades Council in the shipyards. At the same meeting, a motion was made and carried that “a list of unfair electrical contractors be mailed to all Unions.”
In January of 1919 things were heating up and the Local was preparing for a strike. At one meeting, a report was made that a committee of the Local was available to visit organizations (our modern day Sound Alliance) to explain our side of the difficulties then existing between Local 46 and the shipbuilders. It was motioned and carried that Local 46 go on record as adopting a Co-Operative market and the strike committee be empowered to purchase coupon books for the members. The meeting minutes stated there would be one man from each shipyard, along with the Business Manager, to draw up demands to be submitted to the yards in regards to wages and conditions.
At a special meeting called on January 30, Local 46 members voted 180 in favor of joining the General Strike and 15 against. Newspaper reporters were waiting outside the Hall. A Local 46 committee was appointed for press reports. Another committee was appointed to attend the special Central Labor Council meeting on the next Sunday morning. Strike Stewards were selected by the President to assist in patrolling outlying districts to learn the amount of work done by members of Local 46 during the strike.
The Metal Trade Unions walked out of the yards on January 21, 1919. 35,000 Union members, amongst them Local 46 Marine members. The strike was aimed not only at the shipyard owners, but at the Emergency Fleet Corporation also, which coordinated war time shipbuilding. The wages of shipyard workers had been frozen for two years, and after the war, the workers expected a pay hike which never came. As the strike continued, the Seattle Central Labor Council debated launching a General Strike in support of the Metal Trade Unions. At the January 22nd CLC meeting Locals voted to join the shipyard workers on strike.
The city went quiet on February 6, 1919 at 10:00 a.m. as workers withdrew their labor in the first General Strike in the nation’s history. It was the most orderly strike the country had ever seen; the hungry were fed, the hospitals continued to operate, and the police had their quietest duty ever. The strike committee voted to end the strike on February 11th. There is much debate on whether the strike was very effective, but there is no doubt it frightened those who held the power, and energized those who did not.
At a Local 46 meeting in March, a resolution to declare for a 5-day work week (40 Hours) was read for the first time.
On April 10th, it was motioned and carried that the Building Trades be notified that Local 46 adopted a 5-day (40 hour) work week on May 1, 1919. At the same meeting, it was motioned and carried that all telegrams to our International Office be sent collect!
At the July 10th meeting, a special order of business was called for Brother Schechert to read the proposed Metal Trades Agreement. The motion was made and carried, and we accepted the Agreement as read, with copies and wages attached. Though there was no reference to this Agreement, I think we can assume that this was the Master Agreement covering all the yards that were struck in January and precipitated the General Strike.
In September, three delegates, L. F. Benedetti, A. G. Heller and George McGivery, represented Local 46 at the15th International Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana. Our membership that year stood at 720 members, a doubling of the membership in two years, and a reflection of the increased work in the shipyards.
The decade did not end on a high note though. On November 11, 1919, during an Armistice Day parade in Centralia, Washington, a group of veterans attacked the IWW Hall. In the ensuing gun battle, four veterans were shot dead. That night, a mob took one of the Wobblie prisoners, who happened to be a fellow veteran, from the jail and hung him from a bridge crossing over the Chehalis River. The bridge was forever nicknamed, “Hangman’s Bridge.” There is a set of Murals in Centralia on the side of the Antique Mall commemorating this tragic piece of Labor history.
During this decade, the meetings went long and appeared to have plenty of action and visits from other Unions and organizations. The Cigar Makers came to make a pitch for Union made cigars, the Shoemakers Union came into a meeting asking that Local 46 members use Union made clothes and boots. Barbers showed up. Communications from the cooks and waitresses encouraging the use of Union restaurants.
The Local contributed to charities like the Ryther Children’s Home, which is still in operation today here in Seattle, and many Unions invited Local 46 members to dances they were sponsoring, and Local 46 had some dances of their own. As the Local goes into the 20’s, it had succeeded in doubling the membership; could the Local continue to grow in the 1920’s? Read on!
1919 PSNM Rivet heaters, catchers and passers. One of the most iconic World War I images taken at the PSN Shipyard.
1919. As America’s labor shortage became increasingly serious, women, like these Shipyard workers, began filling more and more non traditional positions, some of them even wearing pants for the first time. Photo Courtesy PSNM.
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