Today in Labor History July 20, 1934: Seattle police fired tear gas and clubbed 2,000 striking longshoremen during the West Coast port strike. Meanwhile, the governor of Oregon called out the National Guard to break the strike on the Portland docks. By the end of the strike, all the West Coast ports had become unionized. 1 worker died in Seattle and another died in Portland.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #seattle #Portland #strike #waterfront #longshoremen #union #PoliceBrutality #PoliceMurder #Police #acab

Today in Labor History July 16, 1934: The San Francisco General Strike began. The longshoremen’s strike actually started on May 9 and lasted 83 days, leading ultimately to the unionization of all West Coast ports. The strike grew violent quickly, with company goons and police brutalizing longshoremen and sailors. They hired private security to protect the scabs they brought in to load and unload ships, housing them in moored ships and wall compounds that the strikers attacked. In San Pedro, two workers were killed by private security on May 15. Battles also broke out in Oakland, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. On Bloody Thursday, July 5, in San Francisco, police attacked strikers with tear gas and with clubs while on horseback and later fired into the crowd, killing two and injuring others. A General Strike was called on July 14 and began on July 16, lasting 4 days. Many non-unionized workers joined the strike. Movie theaters and night clubs shut down. Many small businesses shut down & posted signs in solidarity with the strikers.

On July 17, the cops arrested 300 people they accused of being communists, radicals or subversives. The National Guard also blocked both ends of Jackson Street that day with machine gun-mounted trucks to aid vigilante attacks on the Marine Workers Industrial Union headquarters and the ILA soup kitchen. They raided many other union halls and communist organizations. Vigilantes kidnapped and beat a lawyer for the ACLU, as well as 13 radicals from San Jose, CA.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #GeneralStrike #SanFrancisco #longshoremen #waterfront #union #communism #vigilantes #BloodyThursday #PoliceBrutality #police #acab

Today in Labor History July 5, 1934: Two strikers were shot and killed and more than 100 were injured by San Francisco police in what came to be known as "Bloody Thursday," leading to one of the last General Strikes in U.S. history. The governor called in the National Guard to suppress the strike by the International Longshoremen’s & Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU). Police and Guard violence led to 43 injuries due to clubbing and gas, and 30 more for bullet wounds. Two chemical companies used the unrest as an opportunity to test and sell their wares. Joseph Roush, from Federal Laboratories, shot a long-range tear gas shell at the strikers. He then told his company, "I might mention that during one of the riots, I shot a long-range projectile into a group, a shell hitting one man and causing a fracture of the skull, from which he has since died. As he was a Communist, I have had no feeling in the matter and I am sorry that I did not get more."

Mike Quinn wrote about the strike in his 1949 book, “The Big Strike.” Quinn was a working-class journalist and novelist. He was an active member of the Communist Party and a writer for the ILWU.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #GeneralStrike #SanFrancisco #longshoremen #BloodyThursday #ilwu #riots #communism #massacre #police #PoliceBrutality #acab #writer #author #fiction #novel @bookstadon

Today in Labor History July 5, 1998: Rebel Longshoreman, writer and Wobbly (IWW) Gilbert Mers (1908-1998) died. Mers wrote the book “Working the Waterfront: The Ups & Downs of a Rebel Longshoreman” in which he exposed the Texas Rangers of the 1930s and 40s as legalized strike-breaking bullies.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #longshoremen #IWW #GilbertMers #waterfront #TexasRangers #writer #author @bookstadon

Today in Labor History June 13, 1913: in New Orleans cops shot Black & White IWW members who were trying to stop scabs from unloading a ship. Their strike against United Fruit Company began on June 2. The shooting killed one worker and injured two others. That same year, there were successful IWW-led maritime strikes up and down the eastern seaboard, many organized and led by Ben Fletcher, of the Philadelphia branch. However, the IWW lost their New Orleans strike.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #strike #IWW #union #BenFletcher #racism #longshoremen #NewOrleans #scabs #PoliceBrutality #PoliceMurder #police #acab

Today in Labor History May 26, 1851: Stevedores and longshoreman struck in San Francisco. This was the first documented longshore strike in California. They were demanding six dollars per day, which was a lot in those days. However, the gold rush caused massive inflation and six dollars was not much in light of that. They also were fighting for a nine-hour work day and one dollar per hour overtime. In the wake of this successful strike, organizers formed the Riggers’ and Stevedores’ Association.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #strike #SanFrancisco #stevedore #longshoremen #inflation #wages

🌊 🛤️ Lovely essay "The Tides that Erase: Automation and the Los Angeles Waterfront":

"there will be enough of us left who know even a few words of the old language to tell the stories of those who have come and gone: break bulk, hooks, casual cards, A books, long on hours, a good worker, the best worker, my grandfather, my father, my father"

https://boomcalifornia.org/2020/01/14/the-tides-that-erase-automation-and-the-los-angeles-waterfront/

#automation #ILWU #LosAngeles #UCaliforniaPress #BoomCalifornia #longshoremen #OpenAccess #labor #unions

🌊 🛤️ Lovely essay "The Tides that Erase: Automation and the Los Angeles Waterfront":

"there will be enough of us left who know even a few words of the old language to tell the stories of those who have come and gone: break bulk, hooks, casual cards, A books, long on hours, a good worker, the best worker, my grandfather, my father, my father"

https://boomcalifornia.org/2020/01/14/the-tides-that-erase-automation-and-the-los-angeles-waterfront/

#automation #ILWU #LosAngeles #UCaliforniaPress #BoomCalifornia #longshoremen

Followup to the #Longshoremen's walkout / #strike at the port of #Oakland Link is a private group at FB. May not work https://www.facebook.com/groups/685912971871811/permalink/1511475859315514/

#INTERNATIONAL_TECH_NEWS
Why #Global #Supply_Chains May #NEVER_BE_THE_SAME | A WSJ Documentary

Every day, millions of #sailors, #truck_drivers, #longshoremen, #warehouse workers and #delivery drivers keep #mountains of #goods #moving into #stores and #homes to meet consumers’ increasing expectations of convenience.

But this #complex movement of goods #underpinning the #global_economy is FAR #MORE_VULNERABLE than many imagined

https://youtu.be/1KtTAb9Tl6E

Disclaimer: DavidV.TV and/or its owner...

#INTERNATIONAL_TECH_NEWS
Why #Global #Supply_Chains May #NEVER_BE_THE_SAME | A WSJ Documentary

Every day, millions of #sailors, #truck_drivers, #longshoremen, #warehouse workers and #delivery drivers keep #mountains of #goods #moving into #stores and #homes to meet consumers’ increasing expectations of convenience.

But this #complex movement of goods #underpinning the #global_economy is FAR #MORE_VULNERABLE than many imagined

https://youtu.be/1KtTAb9Tl6E

Disclaimer: DavidV.TV and/or its owner...