For some reason or other the paper mill unions have not been able to make much progress on the Pacific Coast. However, I think we might have a chance to break into that field at the present time if we were only in a position to send organizers out there. —Pulp, Sulphite Workers Union president John Burke to AFL president William Green, June 1933
After the 1917 strikes, the Crown-Willamette Company (and later Crown Zellerbach) effectively shut out union organizing for almost two decades. Like other U.S. corporations during the 1920s, the Camas mill introduced a newspaper, stock and savings plan, sports teams, and other welfare programs to win employee loyalty. But 1930s worker activism across the country and New Deal legislation stimulated demands for union representation in the industry.
American Federation of Labor (AFL) president William Green sent C.O. Young to the Pacific Northwest, who successfully organized paper mill locals in Longview, St. Helens, Oregon City, and Vancouver. Fearing more militant unions, in 1934 the West coast pulp and paper manufacturers allowed the AFL’s International Brotherhood of Paper Makers (IBPM) and International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers (IBPSPMW) to establish locals, including IBPM Local #130 and IBPSPMW Local #100 representing Camas workers. Western mill owners signed a Uniform Labor Agreement that guided bargaining relationships for the next thirty years.
