Telephone operators in Seattle strike for union recognition on October 31, 1917.

  • By Greg Lange
  • Posted 5/09/1999
  • HistoryLink.org Essay 1120
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On October 31, 1917, Seattle telephone operators strike for union recognition and better pay. The union members are all women. The owner hires strikebreakers who provide “intolerable” service. After about one month the unsuccessful strike ends.

Sources: [Washington State] Bureau of Labor, Bureau of Labor Eleventh Biennial Report 1917-1918 (Olympia: Frank M. Lamborn, Public Printer, 1918), 160.

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