The United States’ national minimum wage policy owes a lot to a humble Wenatchee chambermaid named Elsie Parrish. How did this quiet, young, low-income mother of six make such an impact on history?
Parrish took a job as a chambermaid at Wenatchee’s Cascadian Hotel in August 1933. The hotel, at the corner of First Street and Wenatchee Avenue, was the grandest in town with 10 floors, a restaurant and a ballroom. Parrish made beds, swept floors, cleaned bathrooms and polished furniture and was paid 22 cents an hour. Later her pay was raised to 25 cents an hour for a 48-hour week, or $12 per week. Washington state had passed a law in 1913 that guaranteed women $14.50 a week — but many industries paid little attention to the law, especially after a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1923 found a women’s minimum wage unconstitutional.
That decision reflected justices’ belief that workers had “liberty of contract,” the freedom of employer and employee to negotiate a wage acceptable to both. (In other words, “Take this job at a low wage or go away!”) Various states, including Washington, attempted to improve working conditions or protect consumers, but their lawmaking efforts were struck down by the Supreme Court.
After almost two years, Parrish quit the Cascadian. She presented the hotel with a bill of $216.19, which she said was the difference between what she’d been paid (at $12) and what she was due (at $14.50). The hotel offered to settle for $17. “No!” said Elsie, and off she...
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