Tramp-tramp-tramp, on the workers plodded, bareheaded, no talking, not even a cigarette. Opportunities for All (OFA) provides access to career exploration and workforce development forSan Franciscos youth and young adults. Thompson and the Making of the New Left (Monthly Review Press, 2014).and an editor ofRebel Rank and File: Labor Militancy and Revolt From Below during the Long Seventies(Verso, 2010). But above all they demanded the abolition of the hated shape-up and its replacement with a union hiring hall. [62] A lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union was kidnapped and beaten, while vigilantes seized thirteen radicals in San Jose and turned them over to the sheriff of an adjoining county, who transported them to another county. The struggle, then, had just begun. [47] The Teamsters had already been out for two days by that point. [31][32] This "red scare" also helped ignite a controversy about the New Deal Public Works of Art Project murals that were at the time being completed in San Francisco's Coit Tower (on Telegraph Hill, close to the location of the strike in San Francisco), leading to the postponing of the tower's July 7 opening, and later to the removal of communist symbols from two of the American Social Realism style murals. Your email address will not be published. The ILWU later faced similar challenges from women, who found it even harder to enter the industry and the union. 2. [15][73], Sam Kagel, the last surviving member of the original union steering committee, died on May 21, 2007 at the age of 98. [52], The strike lasted four days. The story was the same for garment and textile workers; so with the unorganized in the mass production industries. The Portregularly offers mentorship and experience to students wanting a glimpseinto public sector careers throughCity-sponsored internshipprograms. The strike was a violent one: When strikers attacked the stockade in which the employers were housing strikebreakers in San Pedro, California on May 15, the employers' private guards shot and killed two strikers. The newspapers reported two dead, sixty-seven injured, some critically, just that one afternoon. Spontaneous strikes over grievances and workplace conditions broke out as strikers returned to their jobs, with longshoremen and teamsters supporting their demands. Then at three oclock, the strikers surged down Mission Street, attempting to seize the waterfront just to the south. On the crucial issue of the hiring hall, the Board ruled: The hiring of all longshoremen shall be through hiring halls maintained and operated jointly. But the dispatcher shall be selected by the International Longshoremens Association. Longshoremen were to be dispatched without favoritism or discrimination because of union or non-union membership.. The ILWU rejoined the AFLCIO in 1988, and disaffiliated with it in 2013. Just as the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act had led to a spontaneous significant rise in union membership among coal miners in 1933, thousands of longshoremen now joined the fledgling ILA locals that reappeared on the West Coast. Some of its shacks were remnants of the 1906 earthquake. The ISU used this power to drive strikebreakers out of the industry. [53] Reports that unions in Portland and Seattle would also begin general strikes picked up currency. [16] The MWIU faded away as party activists followed the mass of West Coast longshoremen into the ILA. February 27, 2023. The Longshore Caucus is the highest governing body of the Coast Longshore Division. The strikers charged the police lines, only to be driven back by tear-gas and then live ammunition. Thompson and the Making of the New Left (Monthly Review Press 2014). Analyze the market and your qualifications to negotiate your salary with confidence. [57], On July 17, 1934, the California National Guard blocked both ends of Jackson Street from Drumm to Front with machine gun mounted trucks to assist vigilante raids, protected by SFPD, on the headquarters of the Marine Workers' Industrial Union and the ILA soup kitchen at 84 Embarcadero. That same day, sailors and firemen voted to strike and they were followed by cooks and stewards, then masters, mates and pilots, thus making it a maritime strike. [1], Longshoremen on the West Coast ports had either been unorganized or represented by company unions since the years immediately after World War I, when the shipping companies and stevedoring firms had imposed the open shop after a series of failed strikes. Non-union truck drivers joined the first day; the movie theaters and night clubs closed down. The Longshore Contract that resulted from 2002 negotiations expired on July 1, 2008. Longshoreman Howard Keylor knew when to unload a ship and he knew when to refuse. On July27 the dockers unloaded mail from the Makara, an Australian freighter, the first to be worked in nearly three months. Rangers900 3 yr. ago. See user submitted job responsibilities for Longshoreman. It stood just near the western anchorage of the Bay Bridge, then being framed with great towers of orange steel. His entangled, problematic relationship with the Communist Party often defined him, fairly and unfairly. [20] The employers recruited strikebreakers, housing them on moored ships or in walled compounds and bringing them to and from work under police protection. A union committee decided: electrical workers who supplied light and power were also exempted, as were ferry crews on the Bay. Bridges asked the San Francisco Labor Council to meet that Saturday, July 7, to authorize a general strike. The bolshevized socialism of the thirties rarely was successful in penetrating the rank-and-file of the workers movements and the new unions, never in the long run. List of hospitals in San Francisco, CA. One battle lost was not, however, the end of the war. These are well beyond the scope of this brief celebration of the strike and the longshoremen who led it. This loss connects us all and fuels our continued effort to bring our union strength to bear as we fight to implement and maintain safeguards for dockworkers up and down the West Coast. The middle class is losing ground, but it does not need to be this way. Longshoremen Hiring List Details About Longshoremen Hiring List longshoremen hiring list get to make a difference every single time they go to work. Frank Ponce De Leon, Coast Committeeman The San Francisco longshoremen called the Embarcadero the slave market there, each morning at 8 am, workers would gather, as often as not desperate for any opportunity to work. [4][22][23] In March 2020, the judge reduced the amount to $19 million. Go to the union business office in the city they are located or the union hall and inquire about joining the union and working the docks. A week or 10 days can pass before they get a chance to earn a full day's pay. While the IWW was a spent force after that strike, syndicalist thinking remained popular on the docks. The newspapers, again, declared the strike finished. Survival depended on cooperation and a sense of this identity, hence the common appellation, longshoreman. The agreement, however, highlighted the lesser status that less senior members, known as "B-men," enjoyed. High School Diploma or Technical Certificate. Waterfront workers are often crane operators and truck drivers. They swarmed the Embarcadero, outnumbering the police, The police answer was gas and still more gas. The employers shall be free to select their men. The press proclaimed victory and announced the strike over. (This is a long-time goal of the PMA and other companies whose workers the ILWU represents.[13]). [15], Events soon made the MWIU wholly irrelevant. What began as an isolated longshoremen's dispute developed in the spring and summer of 1934 into one of the most sweeping and violent industrial conflicts of the Great Depression. Rumors were spread that a communist army was set to invade the city. The Trips Festival on January 2123, 1966 was the most attended and advertised of the early Acid Tests. February 1, 2012. [4], The Industrial Workers of the World had attempted to organize longshoremen, sailors and fishermen in the 1920s through their Marine Transport Workers Union. Hobsbawn, is filled with dramatic events and personalitiesgreat triumphs as well as tragic defeats the longshoremen are powerful workers. The 1934 longshoremens strike was a display of this, and it was above all a great triumph. Properly understood, the San Francisco General Strike and the uprising on the Pacific Coast needs placing in this history, but also in the tradition of syndicalism, that is, the tradition of direct action, mass movements, immigrant strikes, labor wars and rank-and-file rebellions that have repeatedly exploded the conservatism and complaisance of this country. About 63; Officers; Executive Board; Committees and Elected Employees; Retired and Deceased Members; . The sirens screamed, and carload after carload of police and plainclothes-men armed with more tear gas and shot guns swung into action, The superior technical equipment of the uniformed forces was too much for any human flesh, regardless of numerical superiority. Base pay was about $35 an hour. [58] Further raids were carried out at the Workers' Open Forum at 1223 Fillmore street and the Western Worker building opposite City Hall that contained a bookstore and the main offices of the Communist Party, which was thoroughly destroyed. The West Coast district of the ILA broke off from the International in 1937 to form the International Longshoremen's Union, later renamed the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union after the union's "march inland" to organize warehouse workers, then renamed the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) in recognition of the number of women members. [citation needed], The union soon utilized the "quickie strike" tactic to force many concessions from employers such as safer working conditions and better pay. Individualize employee pay based on unique job requirements and personal qualifications. The average salary range for a Longshoreman is from $53,657 to $65,734. The union played a key role in the Great Maritime Strike and the San Francisco General Strike of 1934, which closed down shipping from San Diego to Alaska. There was little to celebrate. 200 Constitution Avenue NW Suite S3524 - DFELHWC - LHWCA Washington, DC 20210 Phone: 202-513-6809 In May 2020, OWCP's Longshore program adopted a single phone number to reach the national office and any suboffice in the Eastern, Western and Southern compensation districts. [70] While the award put the operation of the hall in the hands of a committee of union and employer representatives, the union was given the power to select the dispatcher. He died in San Francisco in 1983.. [45] The police were wholly absent from the scene. Tramp-tram-tramp, grave and grim, on they came, there seemed to be no end to the procession, There was no break in the march; there was no halting or hesitation. September 21, 1937 Moving on, the Workers' Ex-Servicemen's League's headquarters on Howard between Third and Fourth was raided, leading to 150 arrests and the complete destruction of the facilities. However, several news reports and blogs claimed that some members from ILWU Locals 34 and 10 openly supported the protesters. [66] Employers conceded many of these battles, giving workers even more confidence in demanding that employers lighten unbearably heavy loads. [20], In 2014, when the Pacific Maritime Association reported that the nationwide average ILWU union member earned $147,000, the Seattle Times found that in 2013 "longshore employees" earned an average of $85,000 in Seattle and $114,000 in Tacoma, while "clerks" earned an average of $153,000 in Seattle and $159,000 in Tacoma, and "foremen" in Seattle and Tacoma averaged $204,000. It was established in 1937, after the historic 1934 General Strike and after voting to disaffiliate from the International Longshoremens Association (ILA). is this of any relevance today? Charging mounted police overran them. Thus the killing of the two San Francisco strikers aroused a massive outpouring of sympathy with the strikers. The Family Dog put on concerts here in 1965 featuring The Jefferson Airplane, The Charlatans, The Great Society, Lovin Spoonful and others. As of Feb 23, 2023, the average hourly pay for a Longshoremen in the United States is $26.34 an hour. Today containerized cargo travels across the seas on great ships, then across continents on computer-guided, satellite tracks intermodal rail bridges. The federal government, for example, had its own agenda, and this was not workers power. He is co-editor ofWest of Eden, Communes and Utopia in Northern California(PM Press, 2012). The next day Ryan appeared before the longshoremen, still seething, to sell his agreement; hailed with insults, boos and profanities (in several languages), he was howled down. Approximately 500 protesters opposed to Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip participated. The outcome of the strike, in the most immediate sense, then, was at best inconclusive. In front of them were thousands of pickets, led by longshoremen, then in the fifty-seventh day of their strike. James Connor, a 22-year-old college student and newlywed working as a replacement worker on his vacation, was shot and killed in an altercation with striking longshoremen. The Coast Longshore Division of the ILWU forms the core of the union and is comprised of 30 locals, divided among longshore workers, clerks and foremen. Salary range for a Longshoreman $53,657 to $65,734 View average salary for the United States Adjust salary by state Average salary for Longshoreman jobs Read more related jobs Still, the strike at once began to come apart. A third man, Nick Bordoise a Greek by birth (originally named Nick Counderakis) who was an out of work member of the cook's union volunteering at the ILA strike kitchen was shot but managed to make his way around the corner onto Spear Street, where he was found several hours later. "San Francisco can be the new Liverpool," Castell told Gleason right off the bat. Casual longshore workers are the grunts of the local waterfront. They are nearly always employed as part of a labor union, and gaining membership in this union is the crucial step in order to become a longshoreman. The base salary for Longshoreman ranges from $67,271 to $82,409 with the average base salary of $74,578. Many more would gather than were needed, some would be skilled, regular men, others transients, then all grades in between. The Inlandboatmen's Union, whose members operate tugs, barges, passenger ferries and other vessels on the West Coast, and who had formerly been part of the Seafarers International Union of North America, merged with the ILWU in 1980. That same afternoon Governor Frank Merriam declared a State of Emergency and ordered the National Guard to the waterfront. And to the south, miles of industrial waterfront. I'm predicting the economy will boom by japan 2021 olympics/post vaccinations if not postponed again and hire a bunch of longshoreman maybe im wrong. Payroll 310-847-1618. [70] The strike also prompted union organizer Carmen Lucia to organize the Department Store Workers Union and the Retail Clerks Association in San Francisco. A longshoreman is a worker who loads and unloads cargo onto ships. And by Thursday the strike was finished, as one by one the union leaders reestablished their authority. The history of longshoremen, wrote the late historian E.J. U.S. News & World Report provides information on all hospitals in the San Francisco, CA metropolitan area, which also includes Oakland and Fremont. On May 1, more than 10,000 ILWU members from all 29 West Coast ports voluntarily stopped work, with some attending rallies held by the ILWU where the union called for working-class people to withhold their labor to protest the war. Those activists, known as the "Albion Hall group" after their usual meeting place in San Francisco, made contacts with like-minded activists at other ports. They built make-shift barricades; they threw rocks, bottles, bricks. On the Friday, the Central Labor Council, having resisted stubbornly for so long, finally met to consider the general strike. $979 - $23k. The ILWU represents tens of thousands of workers who load and unload ships (traditionally called longshoremen) and others in the transportation industry, especially in warehouses and canneries. On August 21, the Piraeus docked at a different terminal, where two dozen longshoremen unloaded the cargo overnight. Local activities included a police raid . Several picturesque islandsAlcatraz, Treasure Island and the adjacent Yerba Buena Island, and small portions of Alameda Island, Red Rock Island, and Angel Islandare part of the city. Photo: San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library, Bloody Thursday 1934: The Strike that Shook San Francisco and Rocked the Pacific Coast. Nevertheless, on Monday morning, the strike was all but 100% effective. [59] Attacks were also perpetrated on the 121 Haight Street Workers' School and the Mission Workers' Neighborhood House at 741 Valencia Street. Policemen fired a shotgun into the crowd, striking three men in intersection of Steuart and Mission streets. The 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike (also known as the 1934 West Coast Longshoremen's Strike, as well as a number of variations on these names) lasted 83 days, and began on May 9, 1934 when longshoremen in every US West Coast port walked out. He has not received anything since. A solid river of men and women who believed they had a grievance and who were expressing their resentment in this giant demonstration.. Box 839, Moorpark, CA 93020. On July 5, 1934, long known as Bloody Thursday, more than 2,000 strikers gathered on the streets of San Francisco, demanding fair working conditions for longshoremen, who worked long hours with . ILWU Local 13, ILWU, Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach, Shipping, Longshoremen. The Central Labor Council passed a resolution condemning communists among the maritime strikers. For older Memos, please check our archive. [8] Still, in the judgement of historian Albert S. Broussard, "as far as blacks were concerned, the ILWU stood head and shoulders above other Bay Area locals in virtually every respect" during World War II. San Francisco 415-673-8500. The dead were Howard Sperry, a longshoreman and war veteran, and Nick Bordouise, a culinary worker, a member of the Cooks Union and the Communist Party. [21] The union stated that this average pay does not include "casual" (part-time) workers, who are not union members and earn a minimum of $26 per hour. They wanted union representation. The fighting went on all morning. Longshoremen on the West Coast ports had either been unorganized or represented by company unions since the years immediately after World War I, when the shipping companies and stevedoring firms had imposed the open shop after a series of failed strikes. The ILWU Coast Longshore Division and its 30 locals in 29 ports from San Diego, California to Bellingham, Washington are working determinedly to navigate this complex and challenging moment on behalf of the more than 20,000 ILWU workers risking their lives to support the economy and ensure the movement of essential goods needed to fight the pandemic. He was the first of half a dozen to die in the course of the strike. The employer's group, the Industrial Association, had agents riding with the police. Gone are the gangs and the mean waterfront streets. B.A. [69], The arbitration award issued on October 12, 1934, cemented the ILA's power. [22] Strikers also succeeded in slowing down or stopping the movement of goods by rail out of the ports. The employers, however, insisted they were all unskilled, human machines, no matter what job they did. Finally found a forum to ask this, looked on other sf oakland posts but no replies maybe it's the toughest port to get called/updates. Perry writes, "For a couple of hundred people it . Over the weekend, the bodies of the two strikers killed lay in state at ILA headquarters where thousands filed by to see and honor them. While Bridges, who had preached solidarity among all maritime workers and scorned arbitration, apologized to the seamen for the longshoremen's vote, the President of the ISU urged them to hold out and to burn their "fink books", the membership records of the company union to which they had been forced to pay dues. [13][14] While a number of the individuals in this group were Communist Party members, the group as a whole was independent of the party: although it criticized the International Seamen's Union (ISU) as weak and the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), which had its base on the East Coast, as corrupt, it did not embrace the MWIU, but called instead for creation of small knots of activists at each port to serve as the first step in a slow, careful movement to unionize the industry. [25] The employers then decided to make a show of force to reopen the port in San Francisco. [10] Harry Bridges, an Australian-born sailor who became a longshoreman after coming to the United States, was repeatedly accused[further explanation needed] for his acknowledged Communist party membership. [28] By the end of May, Dave Beck, president of the Seattle Teamsters, and Mike Casey, president of those in San Francisco, thought the maritime strike had lasted too long. Still, the widespread police campaign of terror and the rise in vigilantism had taken its toll. Local 13. The press, hysterical, denounced the strikers as vultures who fed upon the plight of the poor city. The Port of San Francisco is a public enterprise entity of the City and County of San Francisco that is committed to eliminating racial disparity in all its policies, processes, decisions and resource allocations. Where We Are a Service Provider. [75], The ILWU continues to recognize "Bloody Thursday" by shutting down all West Coast ports every July 5 and honoring Nick Bordoise, Howard Sperry and all of the other workers killed by police during the strike. Then, on the 28th he announced an agreement, signed by his Pacific Coast officers: disputes over wages and hours would be sent to arbitration. The record at the time was 157 . Saturdays, Sunday and legal holidays were made overtime days. In a tumultuous gathering, 115 unions were represented. They came to see themselves far from the wharf rats of before rather as The Lords of the Docks, proclaiming, immodestly, We are the most militant and organized group of workers the world has ever seen. All this, they did, from the bottom up. The picketers pulled back, unwilling to take on armed soldiers in an uneven fight, and trucks and trains began moving without interference. Huge crowds filled the side streets, others hung from widows and rooftops in anxious anticipation of the certain battle to come. An ILWU spokesman said workers were not prepared to become involved because of safety issues related to the size of the demonstration and the heavy police presence. [15] On the 17th the police arrested more than 300 "radicals, subversives, and communists" while systematically smashing furniture and equipment of organizations related to the strike; the same day, General Hugh S. Johnson as head of the National Recovery Administration spoke at UC Berkeley to denounce the general strike as "a menace to the government". was it a communist strike? The authorities responded with a Red Scare, unanimously the newspapers declared the strike to be a Communist Plot the Hearst Examiner denounced the strike as a revolution. The Los Angeles Times wrote, What is actually in progress there is an insurrection, a Communist inspired and led revolt against organized government. Volley after volley crashed into the closely packed mob, searing flesh, blinding, choking, When the ranks broke, mounted police drove in with clubs, trampling those who could not get out of the way.