Seattle: 1900-1920 -From Boomtown, Through Urban Turbulence ...

Industrial Relations101Meanwhile, Judge Humphries threatened to disbar Hulet Wells because of his play(the state bar association did disbar him in 1917) and installed a committee of four lawyers,including one of Blethen’s attorneys, Frank Hammond. One member, Alfred Lundin,resigned in disgust because Humphries had issued an injunction on 23 July forbiddingproduction of the play; his lead was followed by the others on the committee. On 26 Julythe judge issued a blanket injunction suppressing “street speaking.” Then Blethen futilelytried to initiate a recall campaign to remove Cotterill from office. The manager of theMoore Theater canceled the play, fearing that the theater would be trashed. The play wasrejected in Tacoma for the same reasons.Industrial RelationsBy the beginning of the twentieth century, labor unions in the Pacific Northwestwere finally challenging the industrial employers’ unilateral control over wages and workingconditions. In their struggle against this authoritarianism, they sought the right to representwage earners within an employer’s jurisdiction and to bargain for their wage scales, hours,and working conditions. To carry out this mission, union leaders and organizations soughtprotection of their freedoms of speech and association under the Constitution. If they wonsuch protection, they could even set up closed shops within the area’s industrial plants.Under closed shop conditions, an employer recognizes a union as the collective bargainingagent for its workers. A closed shop gave union members a degree of job security, becausea seniority system was normally part of a collective bargaining agreement. In addition,it usually meant that all wageworkers engaged in a special craft in a plant had to belongto a union created especially for that craft. If the factory was organized as an industrialunion, however, all wage earners in the plant had to belong to the same union, regardlessof craft. The latter was a rare type of organization at this time; the United Mine Workerswas one such organization. Notuntil the advent of the Congressof Industrial Organizations (CIO)in the late 1930s did industrialunions take shape, particularly inthe mass production industries,among the unorganized andunskilled workers.One does not have tohave a Marxian perspective tosee the conflict between the openshoppers and trade unionistsas one between socioeconomicThe Post-Intelligencer’s front page for 11 December, 1917 goeswith the national victory for the “open shop” for its headline whileputting the sensational local story of the moment, the city council’s“Case Against Mayor” Hiram C. Gill, below it.classes. However, it was theemploying class that declaredwar, not the working class. Thelatter mainly wanted entry to the