Spokane Labor History

Nothing to see here, just Woody #Guthrie hanging out with William Lee Cumming, the chair of the Spokane Communist Party, in the 1940s (via Folk Singers & the Bureau on Facebook and h/t @lukebaumgarten)

BREAKING: Workers at the 5th and Pike Starbucks in downtown Seattle have just walked out on STRIKE. @pax crowds and dangerous understaffing have lead to unsafe conditions in the store that these brave partners refuse to tolerate anymore! #PAXWest2023 #Solidarity

Sorry this account has been semi-defunct, but I do hope to get back to it eventually. I'm happy to share others' findings or events on labor history/labor struggles in the region.

Help her out? 👇This comes to mind...in Kellogg, though: visitnorthidaho.com/activity/sunsh…

1921 Spokane Prisoners' Strike

Looking into whether there was a chapter of the NAEL in Spokane. There was definitely targeted persecution of Asian workers, including police raids in Chinatown, that should be researched/exposed more.

"The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), announced that it 'did not countenance the action ...' Bellingham's AFL unions remained affiliated with the National Asiatic Exclusion League, which had more than 800 members in Bellingham alone."

@HistoryLink “While any good citizen must be unalterably opposed to the means employed,” editorialized The Reveille soon after the riot, “the result of the crusade against the Hindus cannot but cause a general and intense satisfaction.” 💔bellinghamherald.com/news/local/art…

#Solidarity #UnionStrong Secrets of a Successful Organizer - August Tuesdays Training Series | Labor Notes shar.es/aWrC86

WFSE Local 1488 rallying in coalition with @SEIU925 and @SEIU1199NW to kick off contract bargaining with UW. #RespectProtectPayUs

New documentary on Billy Tipton spokesman.com/stories/2021/j…

#OnThisDay in 1934, 1,500 Seattle Longshoremen joined 12,500 other maritime workers in closing every seaport between San Diego and Juneau. The strike lasted until July 31. historylink.org/File/1391

100 years ago today, Governor Hart signed the Alien Land Bill, which barred non-white immigrants from buying, owning, or leasing land in the state and mandated confiscation without compensation of any lands purchased before or after passage of the act. historylink.org/File/2124

@danielwinlander @LaborSpokane Mrs. Rosa Malone.

@LaborSpokane Totally just put my nominations in! Thanks for the reminder! Glad you and @thelocalhistory are pushing for Maxes. I put all my votes in for Denny Yasuhara, Spokane teacher, activist, and national president of the JACL in the 90s.

@voodoobones @thelocalhistory I mean, all I'm saying is, we want kids to know they can be whatever they dream🤣

Oh my gosh, I just realized this is a thing! Submissions are due Sunday night. Who should we name some Spokane schools after? I'm thinking Black civil rights lawyer and activist Carl Maxey and suffragette and socialist May Hutton. Who else? spokesman.com/stories/2021/f…

Deadline is tonight to name 4 new @SpokaneSchools.h/t @LaborSpokane Suggestions: Carl Maxey historylink.org/File/8015 Elizabeth Gurley Flynn en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth… May Hutton spokanehistorical.org/items/show/199 Billy Tipton en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Tip… spokaneschools.org/younameit

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn of the IWW, who chained herself to a downtown Spokane lamppost and got arrested, and who became a posterchild of the Spokane Free Speech Fight of 1909?

I ended up submitting all my votes for Carl Maxey, since I feel it's important to honor the man who got Black teachers into Spokane public schools for the first time with a school named for him. historylink.org/File/8015#:~:t….

@nuthingsscareme Great idea! Please vote <3