Insight into early 20th‑century labor relations in Seattle.
This volume captures testimony from the 1914 Seattle hearing of the Industrial Relations Commission, showing how employers, workers, and city officials described conditions, disputes, and remedies.
The pages illuminate the leading industries, including lumber and related trades, and reveal the tensions around wages, working hours, and strikes. Through direct witness accounts and commission questions, readers gain a sense of the practical challenges in managing industrial unrest and shaping public policy in a growing port city.
- Firsthand testimony from Seattle officials and workers on industry conditions, especially lumber and shingle mills
- Documentation of labor disputes, strikes, and efforts to resolve them through mediation
- Discussion of boycott activity, union organization, and the role of local government
- Context on how the commission sought practical remedies and policy recommendations
Ideal for readers of labor history, industrial relations, and the social fabric of the Pacific Northwest in the early 1900s.