Transport Workers Solidarity Committee

Harry Bridges: Working-Class Hero
http://www.truthout.org/harry-bridges-working-class-hero57935
Harry Bridges: Working-Class Hero
Wednesday 24 March 2010
by: Dick Meister, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

He died 20 years ago this month, but I can still see him, a tall, wiry, gray-haired, hawk-nosed man. I can hear him.

I see him pacing restlessly back and forth behind the podium at union meetings, nervously twirling a gavel, puffing incessantly on a cigarette. I hear him calling on members, white, black, Asian, Latino, in the broad accent of his native Australia, actually encouraging debate and dissent.

He died in San Francisco at the age of 88 - Harry Bridges, co-founder and for 40 years president of one of the most influential organizations in this or any other country, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU).

Bridges often was irritating to the ILWU's friends and foes alike. He was irascible and obstinate. But he was unquestionably one of the past century's greatest leaders.

Bridges was not in it for money. His salary as union president was far less than he would have made had he remained a working longshoreman. Bridges was in it because of his unswerving belief in "the rank-and-file," as he once told me, a naive and inquisitive young reporter - "the working stiff, that's who! Can you understand that?"

Spying alleged in fight to save S.F. union hall a landmark

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/26/BASI19C6NE.DTL

Spying alleged in fight to save S.F. union hall
John Coté, Marisa Lagos
Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The clash between preservationists and developers over the future of a waterfront union hall where the 1934 general strike began has a new wrinkle: espionage.

This had already been shaping up as a bitter fight with labor and architectural heritage types pitted against developer Hines, which wants to replace the old longshoreman's union hall with an uber-green office building - one of the tallest on the city's waterfront.

But the group that wants the building declared a city landmark says that Daniel McGill, a Hines employee, misrepresented himself as an avid preservationist to get access to the group's Aug. 4 meeting, where documents were provided and strategy discussed for upcoming city hearings.

The committee blasted McGill's actions as "unethical" and "a form of industrial espionage" in a recent letter to city supervisors.

Hines has agreed to pay $235 million to the Transbay Joint Powers Authority to construct an office tower as part of the Transbay Terminal project but has recently defaulted on other major Bay Area projects.

Three Commemoration Events Around 75th Anniversary Of the SF General Strike Streamed On The Web
http://www.laborfest..net/2009/SFGSevents.htm
75th Anniversary
San Francisco General Strike Events
July - August 2009

July 3 (Friday) 9.00 - 4:00 PM (Free) - Marine Firemen’s Hall - 240 2nd St., SF
The 1934 San Francisco General Strike: An Educational Conference
The San Francico General Strike and West Coast Maritime Strike was a pivotal point for the working people in San Francisco and the West. This strike which was organized from the bottom up showed that the rank and file have the power to successfully form a union despite the resistance of the bosses, the media, the politicians and the government. The lessons of workers today for this strike are vital when millions of workers are unorganized and facing concession after concession with the economic collapse of our enconomy.
Videos Harry Bridges, A Man And His Union will be shown. This conference will also be streamed on the web for those who are unable to attend the conference.
Speakers including: Harvey Schwartz, Ralph Schoenman, Brad Weidemier, Akio Masuda, Cleophus Williams, Gifford Hartman, Clarence Thomas and Jack Heyman.

July 3, 2009 Education Conference On '34 General Strike & July 6, 2009 International Labor Conference

'34 General Strike Educational Conference July 3, 2009

Marine Fireman's Union

240 Second St.

San Francisco

San Francisco

9:00 AM

5 minutes-Introductions:

Greetings

Greetings from Maritime unions

9:05 AM

10 minutes-Introduction of Delegations and Guests

9:15 AM

20 minutes with Harvey Schwartz July 3, 1934 What Happened

9:35

10 minutes-Clarence Thomas introduces Cleophus Williams And the How This Shaped The ILWU

9:45

20 minutes Cleophus Williams on The Fight To Defend Harry Bridges From Being Expelled

10:05

10 minutes-Award To Cleophus Williams and All Those Who Fought To Defend Harry Bridges

10:15

10 minutes video of Pete Seeger and the 1940 performance and witch hunts

10:25

20 minutes Jack Heyman on How The General Strike Was Won And The Lessons

10:45

20 minutes Brad Weidmeier Role of Albion Group by

11:05 15 minutes Howard Keylor on the 1948 Strike and the Role of the Strike Committee

11:15

45 minutes Discussion

12:00 Lunch &

Screening Of Harry Bridges, A Man And His Union

1:00 PM

6/24 Meeting On Protection Of Historic ILA Strike Central Headquarters & Establishment Of Labor Education/Media/Organizing Center

URGENT CALL TO ACTION

STRATEGY MEETING ON WEDNESDAY JUNE 24 AT ILWU LOCAL 34 HALL

WHERE: ILWU Local 34 Hall at Berry Street adjacent to AT&T Park (2nd and King)

WHEN: 7:00 p .m to 9:00 p.m.

WHAT: Preparing the fight to preserve the Waterfront, itsr labor legacy and to create a landmark Labor Educational, Media and Organizing Center at 113 Steuart Street that enhances the Waterfront and preserves its historic, environmental and architectural legacy.

PRESERVE 113 STEUART STREET, SITE OF ILA HEADQUARTERS AND GROUND ZERO FOR THE 1934 GREAT MARITIME AND GENERAL STRIKE

On March 17 after five hours of public testimony in which the ILWU, Maritime Unions, Labor Historians, Waterfront Residents and Preservationists exposed the attempt by developers to demolish the nerve center of the 1934 General Strike on this its 75th anniversary, the Board of Supervisors voted overwhelmingly to reject the Planning Commission decision to allow Hines Real Estate to raze 113 Steuart Street and put up a high rise that violates planning criteria for the Waterfront.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bridges15-2009may15,0,1231344.story

ILWU members to march in memory of slain workers
The event honors two area longshoremen killed on the waterfront in 1934. A bronze statue honoring longshoremen union founder Harry Bridges also will be unveiled in San Pedro.
By Louis Sahagun
5:24 PM PDT, May 14, 2009
Ever since the 1930s, when the legendary labor leader Harry Bridges founded the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, his name has conjured images of dockworker walkouts and bloody clashes with police on the picket lines in the hard-working port communities of Wilmington and San Pedro.

Friday, the ILWU will mark the 75th anniversary of the deaths of two union members who were killed during the waterfront strike of 1934 with a march and memorial service, and the unveiling of a bronze and granite Harry Bridges Monument in downtown San Pedro's John S. Gibson Jr. Park.

"For us, this is hallowed ground. It's for the guys who got killed -- and died on the job -- and for Harry," ILWU Pensioners President Al Perisho said Thursday as he admired the gleaming $130,000, 8-foot-tall monument installed at the corner of 5th Street and Harbor Boulevard.

75th '34 Anniversary General Strike Events
July 1 (Wednesday) - August 31 (Monday)
The Men Along The Shore And The Legacy of 1934
At SF Main Library, 6th floor, 100 Larkin St. SF
By ILWU presented by ILWU Local 10

July 3 (Friday) 9:00 AM
1934 SF General Strike History and Educational
Conference
At Marine Firemen’s Hall - 240 2nd St. SF
Hosted by ILWU Local 34 & Local 10, Transport
Workers Solidarity Committee

July 3 (Friday) 6:00 PM
Spaghetti Feed at Location TBA.
Hosted by ILWU Local 34 & Local 10.

July 5 (Sunday) 9:00 AM
Bloody Thursday 75th Anniversary Procession
Along the Embarcadero, meets at Music Concourse
(Steuart & Market Sts).
Hosted by BALMA, ILWU Local 10, 34, 91, 75 &
ILWU Pensioners. (Somber procession, uniformed,
respectful and orderly.)

July 6 (Monday) 9 AM-5 PM
International Labor Conference
At ILWU Local 34 Hall, 4 Berry St. (mailing), 801
Second St. (mapquest), SF, CA 94107.
Hosted by ILWU Local 10, 34, Transport Workers Solidarity Committee
July 6 (Monday) 6-9:00 PM
International Labor Solidarity Night
At ILWU Local 34 Hall, 4 Berry Street (mailing), 801
Second St. (mapquest), SF, CA 94107.

May 15, 2009 LA ILWU Local 13 75th Commemoration March in Wilmington at 10:00 AM
Three mile march begins at corner of Harry Bridges Blvd. and Neptune Ave. in Wilminghton
at 10:00 AM

This is the html version of the file http://www.ilwu.org/press/2008/upload/ILWU_PensionersMemorial_rls.pdf.

INTERNATIONAL LONGSHORE & WAREHOUSE UNION AFL-CIO 1188 FRANKLIN STREET SAN FRANCISCO CALIFORNIA 94109 (415) 775-0533 (415) 775-1302 FAX WWW . ILWU . ORG ROBERT McELLRATH JOSEPH R. RADISICH WESLEY FURTADO WILLIAM E. ADAMS President Vice President Vice President Secretary-Treasurer Monday, May 12, 2008Contacts: Art Almeida, ILWU Pensioners, 310.833.2872 Bill Orton, Communications Consultant, 562.637.6330 ILWU REMEMBERS WORKERS KILLED ON LOCAL DOCKS (LOS ANGELES HARBOR)—When International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) leaders and retirees come together on Thursday morning to honor dockworkers killed on the job in Los Angelesharbor since 1934, they will gather barely a month after laying to rest longshoreman Carlos Rivera, whose April 4th death makes him the twelfth longshore worker killed on the job on west coast docks since 2002. "Working on the docks is dangerous," ILWU Local 13 President Joe Cortez told the press in April, "but it doesn't have to be deadly." The ILWU's annual May 15th worker memorial is sponsored by the union's Southern California Pensioners Group (SCPG) to remember workers of Local 13 (longshore), Local 63 (marine clerks) and Local 94 (foremen) killed on the job. The May 15th annual worker memorial event marks the day in 1934 when striking longshoremen fought with police, guards and replacement workers in Wilmington. In Feb. 1934, westcoast dockworkers approved a coastwide strike, called for May 9th. The two workers shot by police in Wilmington on May 15 -- Dickie Parker and John Knudsen -- came just six days into the strike and became the first killed on on the waterfront in the tumultuous strike that led to the formation of the ILWU. Pensioner Art Almeida, a retired longshoreman and former ILWU Local President, organizes the annual event. The pensioners erected a permanent memorial in 2005 and now feature a port chaplain and bagpipe player at each year's ceremony. "It's a very special, hallowed place for us," said ILWU SCPG President Al Perisho. "Unfortunately, we're going to add another name, from April 4th when Carlos Rivera was killed and that's a tough proposition. We've lost a lot of people." Rivera, a longshoreman with 40 years on the waterfront, was crushed by a heavy-lift forklift as a crew was unloading steel at the California United terminal. "If someone get hurt now, they're usually losing their life," said Perisho. "The machines are big. These cranes are big. It's productivity, productivity, productivity." Safety is a key issue between the ILWU and employers. The two sides are currently negotiating the next version of the west coast longshore contract that is due to expire on July 1. The event, usually attended by several hundred, features city officials, retirees, loved ones, current workers, and leaders of the Pensioners group and the ILWU Locals for longshore workers, marine clerks and foremen.The ILWU Southern California Pensioners Group annual tribute to fallen workers takes place Thursday, May 15th at 10 am at the ILWU Worker Memorial and Benches, located in John S. Gibson waterfront park on Harbor Avenue, between 5th and 6th streets, in San Pedro.

Don't raze hall where it all began-Bay Area ILWU Longshore Locals Call For Defense Of Labor Landmark

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/28/EDL5179VTG.DTL

Don't raze hall where it all began

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

We the longshore unions of the Bay Area would like to clarify a number of issues concerning the proposal to tear down our founding headquarters at 113 Steuart St. in San Francisco. Federal, state and city laws protect significantly historic sites such as 113 Steuart St.

This nationally important historic site must be preserved for the working people of San Francisco and the United States. On the 75th anniversary of the West Coast Maritime and San Francisco General Strike, which shook the world, developers are proposing to demolish our birthplace.

It was from this union hall that Harry Bridges and the Maritime Strike Committee organized, led and won the battle for union rights and recognition. This hall was the center of the three-month Waterfront Maritime Strike. It was ground zero on Bloody Thursday, July 5, 1934, when police and deputies, following orders, shot scores of union members, and where Howard Sperry was martyred (in front of the adjoining building).

On 75th Anniversary Of SF General Strike:An Affront To San Francisco, an Assault On Organized Labor and Working People Everywher-Destroying the ILA Hall of Harry Bridges

An Affront to San Francisco, an Assault upon Organized Labor and
Working People Everywhere
by
Bradley Wiedmaier and Ralph Schoenman
A landmark building, emblematic of a defining moment in the history of organized
labor for San Francisco and working people across this nation, faces vandal-like desecration.
On Tuesday, March 17th at 4:00 p.m., the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has an
opportunity to prevent this from happening
The International Longshoremen’s Association Local 38-79 Hall from 1933 through
1935 at 113 Steuart Street is targeted for demolition. The agenda item is camouflaged, listed
as 110 The Embarcadero - the address to be assigned its intended replacement, a ten-story
office building that is part of an illicit over-development planned in its place.
The Board of Supervisors can overturn the “Negative Determination” of the Planning
Commission and save the ILA Hall at 113 Steuart Street.
We call upon all friends of labor to show up on March 17th and urge them to do so.
A Negative Determination