Washington State Federation of Labor

In 1893 unions throughout the state sent delegates to the first Washington Labor Congress. In 1902 the Labor Congress decided to form a permanent executive board, change the organization’s name to the Washington State Federation of Labor (WSFL), and affiliate with the American Federation of Labor. Thereafter, only AFL unions could join the WSFL. The primary purpose of the organization, however, remained the same: to lobby the state legislature for labor-endorsed measures. The WSFL also supported candidates and ballot measures and occasionally aided local unions during strikes or organizing drives, but lobbying was almost always the first priority. The WSFL was thus the political arm of the largest segment of the labor movement in Washington.

In the early part of the twentieth century, the WSFL was an important part of the progressive coalition in Washington. The WSFL allied with the Grange, the Federation of Women’s Clubs, and other groups to pass a whole host of measures such as workers’ compensation, the initiative and referendum, and minimum wage laws for women and children. The WSFL was wracked with internal conflicts in the late 1910s and the 1920s over the US entry into the First World War, the desirability of the industrial union type of organization, and the wisdom of launching a third political party. President William Short (1918-26) and his moderate craft union allies won most of these disputes. Against the wishes of Short and the AFL hierarchy, the WSFL did, however, vote to help launch the Washington Farmer-Labor Party (FLP) in 1920. The FLP temporarily displaced the Democrats as the primary opposition party in the state but failed to reduce the Republican domination of state politics. In 1922 Short and his allies defeated the third partyists and pulled the WSFL out of the FLP. The WSFL then adopted a non-partisan stance, endorsing both Democratic and Republican candidates. But, other than an increase in workers’ compensation benefits in 1923, the Federation won few legislative victories in the conservative 1920s.

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