Today In Labor History March 27, 1912: Start of the 8-month Northern railway strike in Canada by the IWW. Over 8,000 construction workers, led by the IWW, walked off the job at Northern Railway workcamps Wobblies picketed employment offices in Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Tacoma and Minneapolis in order to block the hiring of scabs.
Fellow workers pay attention to what I'm going to mention,
For it is the fixed intention of the Workers of the World.
And I hope you'll all be ready, true-hearted, brave and steady,
To gather 'round our standard when the red flag is unfurled.
CHORUS:
Where the Fraser River flows, each fellow worker knows,
They have bullied and oppressed us, but still our union grows.
And we're going to find a way, boys, for shorter hours and better pay, boys
And we're going to win the day, boys, where the river Fraser flows.
For these gunny-sack contractors have all been dirty actors,
And they're not our benefactors, each fellow worker knows.
So we've got to stick together in fine or dirty weather,
And we will show no white feather, where the Fraser river flows.
Now the boss the law is stretching, bulls and pimps he's fetching,
And they are a fine collection, as Jesus only knows.
But why their mothers reared them, and why the devil spared them,
Are questions we can't answer, where the Fraser River flows.
(Lyrics by Joe Hill, 1912, to the tune of “Where the River Shannon Flows.”)
We may put offer on a house in Canada that we have yet to see except in photos & vid.
Our kids are up there to see it Sat. when it lists for real, getting lots of interest, it will sell & we still need to drive up, which takes 3 days (we don't fly w Hammy), so we gotta move FAST.
Ack! No pressure, right?
FYI: Finding a house in Port Moody is needle/haystack, so it's crunch time. Our agent =🥇
UPDATE: as of TODAY i have been kicked out by my roomie
so i'm here to ask for three things:
1. housing in seattle
this is the biggest one. i am now so desperate i'm looking for couches to crash on temporarily right away, but also i'd like to seek out something medium to long term so i have time to get my shit together. i'm currently broke and unemployed, with no family or anything to support me, so i can't really pay rent or anything like that yet (i am aware of how huge an ask this is). i will update this post if that changes. and hopefully it will, because...
2. job leads
i'm currently doing my best to job search. after having an utterly sanity-destroying time working in fast food pre-pandemic, that drove me to the brink of suicide, i am extremely wary of fast food or retail and have basically set the hard limit that i can't do anything public-facing for my own mental health's sake. my various mental illnesses further complicate matters, but i'm trying my best to find something that will work for me. my work portfolio is at https://vanta.work
3. donations to keep me going in the meantime
and finally, i'm requesting donations to help keep me afloat. no real goal here, i can tell i'm gonna need as much slack as possible cut to avoid things going south... so, seriously, anything helps give me a bit more breathing room. thank you so much 🖤
At Seattle’s #Boeing Field, Real-Time #Video Offers a Rare Glimpse of America’s Troubled #Deportation Flights
Key details about what happens inside ICE Air would still be hidden if not for a group of #Washington activists and researchers, who are now using a live video feed from the tarmac to document the flights.
Supporters of a #FreePalestine and #FreeGaza showed up in large numbers at Westlake on Saturday, and then took the streets with them.
First marching to #PikePlaceMarket - BOMBS ARE DROPPING WHILE YOU'RE SHOPPING - Delivering speeches to a thousand plus onlookers. Then marching to the Amazon Spheres stopping at 6th and Lenora St.
With a level of unmatched energy, the entire peaceful demonstration and protest was not only a success, but largely problem free!
Thank you to the Bike and Car brigades for keeping everyone safe!
We packed almost everything into the video this time, so don't miss it!
Today in Labor History February 11, 1919: The Seattle General Strike ended after five days as a result of a sell-out compromise by AFL bureaucrats. The strike began in response to government sanctioned wage cuts. Both the AFL and the IWW participated. During the strike, the workers formed councils, which took over virtually all major city services, including food distribution and security. They also continued garbage collection. Laundry workers continued to handle hospital laundry. And firefighters remained on duty. They established a system of food distribution, which provided 30,000 meals each day. Any exemption to the work stoppage had to be ok’d by the General Strike Committee.
Today in Labor History February 9, 1886: President Cleveland declared martial law in Seattle because of anti-Chinese violence instigated by the Knights of Labor. The union, which was one of the first to organize workers of different ethnicities, as well as women, was notorious for their anti-Chinese sentiment. They participated in numerous other anti-Chinese riots and supported the xenophobic Chinese Exclusion Act.
Today in Labor History February 8, 1919: A General Strike occurred in Butte, Montana against a wage cut. Inspired by the Seattle General Strike, members of the IWW and the Metal and Mine Workers Union, Local 800, organized Soldiers’, Sailors’ and Workers Councils to lead the strike. Streetcar workers joined in, shutting down transportation for 5 days. Soldiers, returning from World War I, joined the pickets. Montana’s governor called in the National Guard. They bayoneted 9 workers. The workers ultimately called off the strike out of fear that there would be fatalities.
Today in Labor History February 6, 1919: The Seattle General Strike began. 65,000 workers participated. Longshoremen, trolley operators and bartenders also participated. The strike began in response to government sanctioned wage cuts. Both the AF of L and the IWW participated. During the strike, the workers formed councils, which took over virtually all major city services, including food distribution and security. They also continued garbage collection. Laundry workers continued to handle hospital laundry. And firefighters remained on duty. They established a system of food distribution, which provided 30,000 meals each day. Any exemption to the work stoppage had to be ok’d by the General Strike Committee. Army veterans created an independent police force to maintain order. The Labor War Veteran's Guard prohibited the use of force and didn’t carry weapons. The regular police made no arrests in any actions related to the strike. Overall, arrests dropped to less than half their normal number.
A pamphlet that was distributed during the strike said, “You are doomed to wage slavery till you die unless you wake up, realize that you and the boss have nothing in common, that the employing class must be overthrown, and that you, the workers, must take over the control of your jobs, and through them, the control over your lives instead of offering yourself up to the masters as a sacrifice six days a week, so that they may coin profits out of your sweat and toil."
The strike ended when they brought in federal troops and the workers were pressured to quit by bureaucrats from the national unions, particularly the AFL.
Protesters hold hands locked together during a Jewish Voice for Peace rally for a ceasefire in Gaza on November 3, 2023, in Seattle, US [File: Lindsey Wasson/AP Photo]
So, here's what I know about the Library Chicken. My son was at the Central Branch doing microfiche research up on the 9th floor.
At 5 pm, he said he sat up to take a break and a saw full grown, live chicken run, full speed, across his line of sight and launch itself (in that weird way chickens do when they try to fly) down the stairs.
Several minutes later, he says he saw two security guards running in the direction of the chicken.
By this point, I assume, the chicken had escaped and security was left with a mystery. That, or there's a chicken haunting the Central Branch tonight. Either are acceptable in my view, really.
I, and apparently loads of other people (judging from the boosts), would love to have the 411 on the Library Chicken.
If you, or someone you know, works at the Central Branch, do fill us in!