The Everett Kraft Local 10 developed along side the company under which they were organized, the Weyerhaeuser Company.
The Weyerhaeuser Company began timber operations in the Everett area around 1900 with the construction of their first sawmill. They continued to grow into a large and successful company eventually expanding into the papermaking industry. In 1953, the second of two Kraft mills opened operations. Kraft mills were a vital step in the production of paper pulp. The Kraft process utilized sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide to extract the harmful and naturally occurring degenerative chemical, lignin, from wood fibers. The workers in the Everett Weyerhaeuser Mill were organized first as the Local 236 of the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers. In 1965, as corruption supposedly filled the ranks of the International Brotherhood, the workers then joined the newly formed Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers. The AWPPW's motto, adopted in 1965, was and still is, "Guard Well the Democratic Rights of Your Members" and they bill themselves as one of the most democratic unions in the country. The Everett Kraft Local 10 was active at the Weyerhaeuser Mill, where employees went on strike on numerous occasions throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The AWPPW and the Weyerhaeuser Company still operate to this day, however, the Everett Kraft Mill and its Local 10 union do not.
From the description of Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers, Everett Kraft Local 10 records, 1946-1989 1965-1973. (Western Washington University). WorldCat record id: 76924929
