What was the longshoremen strike?
The Longshore Strike 1948 was an industrial dispute which took place in 1948 on the west coast of the United States. 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.
Why did the longshoremen go on strike?
The sticking point in the strike was recognition: the union demanded a closed shop, a coastwide contract and a union hiring hall. The employers offered to arbitrate the dispute, but insisted that the union agree to an open shop as a condition of any agreement to arbitrate.
What major strike occurred in 1934?
San Francisco’s 1934 General Strike marked the first time a major US port city was completely shut down by a strike–a pivotal episode in the rise of organized labor in the United States.
What day did the longshoremen go out on strike?
Bloody Thursday (July 5th, 1934) street fighting The members of both longshore and seafaring unions voted to strike in May 1934. In response, the employers mobilized private industry, state and local governments, and police agencies to smash the unions and their picket lines.
What was the longshoremen’s strike of 1934 like?
It was a peaceful and effective strike that lasted but a few days. Both sides agreed to arbitration by the president’s NLB and the general strike was suspended. An agreement was reached via arbitration in the Fall of 1934. This strike marked an end to many employer-dictated labor policies.
How many strikes took place in 1934 why did so many take place?
The year 1934 marked a turning point for the working-class struggle during the Great Depression, with three strikes in three cities–Toledo, San Francisco and Minneapolis–that showed workers could fight back and win.
How many strikes occurred in 1934?
There were four key strikes that took place in 1934: the Toledo Auto-Lite strike, the San Francisco General Strike, the Minneapolis Teamsters strike, and also the textile workers’ strike up and down the East Coast.
What caused the general strike of 1934?
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.
What happened July 5th 1934?
As rumors flew that the National Guard were arriving in the evening, the workers made a last desperate push to seize the railway only to be repelled by police. On this Bloody Thursday (July 5, 1934) over a hundred people were wounded, and police bullets killed strikers Nicholas Bordoise and Howard Sperry.
How many strikes were there in 1934 and why did they strike?
What caused the mill strike of 1934?
Wages remained low, the stretch-out was still common, and some mills refused to negotiate with or recognize any union representation. In July 1934 frustrated workers in Alabama became unwilling to wait for the national United Textile Workers (UTW) union to call a strike. They staged a walkout.
Did the strikes of the 1880s and 1890s hurt or help the labor movement in the long run?
The labor movements of the 1880s and 1890s were not successful. Initially, riots were spontaneous but the 1880s and 1890s saw massive, organized riots and protests by laborers. This was mostly due to a worsening economy, extremely low wages, higher costs of living, as well as increasing unemployment.
When did longshoremen on the west coast go on strike?
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.
What was the result of the West Coast strike of 1934?
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 result of the strike was the unionization of all of the West Coast ports of the United States.
Why did longshoremen join the ILA in 1933?
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. The MWIU faded away as party activists followed the mass of West Coast longshoremen into the ILA.
What was the significance of the San Francisco strike of 1934?
The San Francisco General Strike of 1934, along with the Toledo Auto-Lite Strike of 1934 led by the American Workers Party and the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934 led by the Communist League of America, were important catalysts for the rise of industrial unionism in the 1930s, much of which was organized through the Congress of Industrial