Longshore strike 1948

Last updated August 15, 2023

The Longshore Strike 1948 was an industrial dispute which took place in 1948 on the west coast of the United States. President of the ILWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Unions) at the time was Harry Bridges. The WEA (waterfront employers association) led by Frank P. Foisie were in a conflict, they were unable to come to agreeable terms and with the issues of hiring and the politics of union leadership, longshoremen and marine unions performed a walk out on September 2, 1948.
The strike shut down the United States’ West Coast ports and put a dent in American labor history and a positive change for future longshoremen.

Background

"The ILWU is about workers who built a union that is democratic, militant and dedicated to the idea that solidarity with other workers and other unions is the key to achieving economic security and a more peaceful world." In the sense that the workers wanted to achieve a better life for themselves and their families. The conditions of this job are unsafe and “on call”. The work of loading and unloading ships’ cargoes was, at times, very random and unscheduled.

The employers were demanding change in order to keep up with the demands of war effort. With the history of this type of work as well with their democratic point of view, conservative and hardworking, any negative changes are nearly impossible to make especially in a time of radical reformation.

The 1948 Seattle Pacific Longshore Strike was a conflict between the changes from the New Deal and the prestages of the Cold War. During World War II many divisions splitting up the ILWU began. WEA during the 1948 strike attempted to manipulate these sections, the outcome would then weaken the union's solidarity. With the outbreak of the war this put the ILWU in a strange position there was a pressure on the Union to increase production for the sake of the war effort. The demand for soldiers and the need for stability had a huge impact of the ILWU.

This was a ninety-five-day strike that stretched from San Diego to Alaska. The outburst of this strike emerged shortly after the Taft-Hartley Act. This was taking place during the time of The Red Scare. The 1948 strike secured the future for the ILWU, in the sense that it would survive the Cold War anti-labor persecutions that diminished most leftwing unions. With the two leaders unable to come to terms, the strike lasted more than three months during which “union members displayed an intensity of purpose and level of solidarity that defied the expectations of employers and many observers” With the stress of World War II and the Cold War, along with Conflict arising between WEA and ILWU led to the Longshoreman strike of 1948.^[1]

Strike Timeline

The outbreak of this strike goes back to the start of “Fink Hall” an open shop hiring system, which originated in Seattle, under the leadership of Frank P. Foisie. This system changed the history of how a longshoreman found work, the employers were now in charge as to who gets hired and for how much. Many conflicts arose from this new type of hiring system such as bribes were initiated to obtain work. Many known union supporters were blacklisted and unable to get a job. This decreased the rotation work allowing those in favor to find work while others will go days and days without work and pay.

The objective of the 1948 strike was to illuminate the control of the employers, and to end favoritism, allow opportunity for all and continue to work in a secure position. The two building blocks that provide the strength for the ILWU's Longshore Division have always been the hiring hall and the coastwise contract. After the strike of 1937 the West Coast longshoremen won the coast contract. This new contract made many improvements in the working lives of many longshore men and their families, and the strength and solidarity necessary to improve wages and benefits for generations to come.

After the strike of 1934 the union gained major concessions from employers. The strike of 1948 was significant in the sense that it created the union control over the hiring hall, which would give workers job security and more control which allowed fairness for all.

This strike did not appear out of nowhere changes within the labor movement and a political shift gave leeway to the WEA to take a more aggressive approach against the hiring hall with the involvement of a radical leader of the ILWU.

The President at the time, Truman, initiated the Taft-Hartley Law to deprive the ILWU of all of its gains. This act “outlawed the hiring hall, preferential hiring for union members, secondary boycotts, and strikes over jurisdictional issues.” During the political shift the Republican Party began to win both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Their Republican- controlled Congress were the ones who passed this Act, this law made it harder for unions to form, thus changing the outlook of labor. This law was put in place because a strike was on the radar and was going to happen if Truman didn't take action. Unfortunately this Law was unsuccessful and the strike went on creating a “New look”. September was the specific time that the Longshoremen walked off the job on the Puget sound of Seattle. Bringing forth hostility and the rise of the strike
^[2]

Aftermath

The Strike of 1948 gave a “new look” to the longshoremen workers. One of the finest trade union agreements ever made was negotiated in the new atmosphere. The hiring hall continued as it was; wages were increased, union security was reaffirmed and improvements were made in the hours and vacations provisions. This was the last time the coast wise contract was challenged by employers.
^[3]

Related Research Articles

The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) is a non-profit organization based in San Francisco, California that represents employers of the shipping industry on the Pacific coast.

A stevedore, also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes.

Harry Bridges was an Australian-born American union leader, first with the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA). In 1937, he led several chapters in forming a new union, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), expanding members to workers in warehouses, and led it for the next 40 years. He was prosecuted for his labor organizing and designated as subversive by the U.S. government during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, with the goal of deportation. This was never achieved.

The 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike lasted 83 days, and began on May 9, 1934, when longshoremen in every US West Coast port walked out. Organized by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), the strike peaked with the death of two workers on "Bloody Thursday" and the San Francisco General Strike which stopped all work in the major port city for four days and led ultimately to the settlement of the West Coast Longshoremen's Strike.

The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) is a North American labor union representing longshore workers along the East Coast of the United States and Canada, the Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes, Puerto Rico, and inland waterways; on the West Coast, the dominant union is the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. The ILA has approximately 200 local affiliates in port cities in these areas.

The Battle of Ballantyne Pier occurred in Ballantyne Pier during a docker's strike in Vancouver, British Columbia, in June 1935.

The British Columbia Maritime Employers Association is an association representing the interests of member companies in industrial relations on Vancouver's and other British Columbian seaports.

Ernesto Mangaoang was a Filipino American labor organizer. A communist and longtime leader of immigrant Filipino laborers, Mangaoang was closely associated with Chris Mensalvas, and was a personal friend of the famous Filipino American intellectual and activist Carlos Bulosan.

The Waterfront Workers History Project is a program of the University of Washington, which serves to document the history of workers and unions active on the ports, inland waterways, fisheries, canneries, and other waterfront industries of the western United States and Canada, specifically, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and British Columbia. In collaboration with the Pacific Northwest Labor and Civil Rights History Projects, and sponsored by the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, the Project is a collective effort to organize and present historical data covering significant events from 1894 to the current day.

The Hawaiian sugar strike of 1946 was one of the most expensive strikes in history. This strike involved almost all of the plantations in Hawaii, creating a cost of over $15 million in crop and production. This strike would become one of the leading causes for social change throughout the territory.

The Mechanization and Modernization (M&M) Agreement of 1960 was an agreement reached by California longshoremen unions: International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), and the Pacific Maritime Association. This agreement applied to workers on the Pacific Coast of the United States, the West Coast of Canada, and Hawaii. The original agreement was contracted for five years and would be in effect until July 1, 1966.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is a labor union which primarily represents dock workers on the West Coast of the United States, Hawaii, and in British Columbia, Canada; on the East Coast, the dominant union is the International Longshoremen's Association. The union was established in 1937 after the 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike, a three-month-long strike that culminated in a four-day general strike in San Francisco, California, and the Bay Area. It disaffiliated from the AFL–CIO on August 30, 2013.

The 1923 San Pedro maritime strike was, at the time, the biggest challenge to the dominance of the open shop culture of Los Angeles, California until the rise of the Congress of Industrial Organizations in the 1930s.

The ILWU 1971 strike began on July 1, 1971, when members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) walked out against their employers, represented by the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA). The union's goal was to secure employment, wages, and benefits in the face of increased mechanization, shrinking workforce, and the slowing economic climate of the early 1970s. The strike shut down all 56 West coast ports, including those in Canada, and lasted 130 days, the longest strike in the ILWU's history.

The Portland Waterfront strike of 1922 was a labor strike conducted by the International Longshoremen's Association which took place in Portland, Oregon from late April to late June 1922. The strike was ineffective at closing down the Port of Portland due to strikebreakers, and on June 22 the strike ended with the employers dictating terms.

In the late 1870s, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh communities on the North Shore of Burrard Inlet experienced an increase of physical and economic encroachment from the expansion of neighbouring Vancouver. Faced with urbanization and industrialization around reserve lands, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh traditional economies became increasingly marginalized, while government-imposed laws increasingly restricted Native fishing, hunting, and access to land and waters for subsistence. In response, these communities increasingly turned to participating in the wage-labor economy.

The 1935 Gulf Coast longshoremen's strike was a labor action of the International Longshoremen's Association. Lasting for about ten weeks from October 1, 1935 to mid-December on the Gulf Coast of the United States, the strike was marked by significant violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Hall (trade unionist)</span> American labor organizer (b. 1915, d. 1971)

Jack Wayne Hall was an American labor organizer and trade unionist. He was the Hawaii Regional Director of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

In 2012, members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union were locked out by the employers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in the U.S. state of California. This was due to issues over labor contract negotiations between port employers and the ILWU's Local 63 Office and Clerical Unit (OCU), which represents about 800 clerical workers at the ports. In 2010, the existing labor contract with the OCU expired, and the union and employers disagreed on the terms of a new contract. The main issue regarded job security, with the union accusing the employers of excessive outsourcing and the employers countering that the union was featherbedding. Negotiations would continue for over 2 years.

Donald (Don) Peter Garcia was a Filipino Canadian union organizer mostly noted as the past president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Canadian Area.

References

↑ http://depts.washington.edu/dock/1948strike.shtml ^{[ dead link ]}
↑ Seattle post-Intelligence, Sept. 2nd, 1948
↑ "The ILWU Story | ILWU". 17 December 2010.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] ttp://depts.washington.edu/dock/1948strike.shtml ^{[ dead link ]}

[2] Seattle post-Intelligence, Sept. 2nd, 1948

[3] "The ILWU Story | ILWU". 17 December 2010.

[1]

[2]

[3]