On July 10, 1911, Rose B. Moore (b. 1876?-1932), State Organizer with the Women's International Union Label League, begins two months of work in Everett helping to organize Everett's women workers. The visit is sponsored by the Everett Trades Council and the Women's Union Label League, which holds a meeting that evening to hear Rose Moore give her introductory speech.
Everett's Union Women
By 1911, some of Everett's working women were organized. Telephone operators were uniting within the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and Shirtwaist Laundry Workers as well as Cooks Waiters and Waitresses and Cigar Makers were also welcoming women into their ranks.
Encouraged by this progress, Women's International Union Label League contracted organizer Rose B. Moore to help Everett strengthen the work already done. She spoke to a large crowd in Everett's Labor Temple on July 10, 1911, stating that she hoped to accomplish two things: first to begin bringing more women into the craft unions and second to build the membership of Everett's Women's Label League, a group that actively encouraged the purchase of union label goods. The Label League's membership included working women, but most of its members were the wives, sisters, sweethearts, and friends of male laborers.
Enthusiasm Building
Initially Moore was hired for a 30-day stay, but this time was extended to two months. In that time Rose B. Moore spoke to large audiences and also made house visits, League women offering their homes for small gatherings.
The Everett Label League said farewell to Moore in a meeting held at the Labor Temple on Monday evening September 11, 1911. A large crowd gathered to hear music performances, a dramatic reading, and speeches. Anna Agnes Maley (1872-1918), new editor of the Socialist newspaper The Commonwealth, spoke briefly and effectively. But the main speaker was Rose B. Moore, who said that in her time in Everett, the Label League had gained several dozen new members and enthusiasm was building for carrying on the cause. Moore expressed her gratitude to the women and men who had wholeheartedly supported her in an effective campaign.
While in Everett, Moore contributed to a column titled "Women's Department" in Everett's Labor Journal. On September 18, 1911, the Everett Women's Label League elected Ida Zeigler as their new president, a woman who had been prominent in the successful women's suffrage campaign in 1910.
