Beginnings of the Big Strike, 1934

As the men began to organize in the fall of 1933, three factions arose among them. On one side was the AFL leadership which took a traditional approach, opposing strikes, and preferring to appease the industry leaders and keep unions segmented by craft or trade. Racial integration was out of the question for this stodgy contingent. These were generally administrators from the east coast, no longer laborers themselves, and they did not have authority or sway with the west coast workers. Communists were on the other end of the spectrum and pushed a larger narrative which sought to pit classes against each other to bring about structural societal changes. Although their ideas of solidarity were attractive, their larger aims were eschewed by most. Between these two extremes sat the rank-and-file membership, the majority of waterfront workers. Their patience had waned waiting for better working conditions to come from traditional pathways and they were ready to act, but their aims did not extend to the communistic state-owned models of production. Instead, they were focused on “workplace-democracy” where the men would have a degree of autonomy, including input regarding hiring practices and voicing concerns about their dangerous working conditions (Johnson 24-26). 

In February of 1934, delegates from all the West Coast ports, elected from the rank-and-file of working men, met at their first west coast International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) convention in San Francisco. Their demands were straightforward: a wage raise from 85 cents to one dollar per hour, a thirty-hour work week with six hours per day, and most importantly, control of the hiring halls. Employers rejected these outright, so the men voted to strike beginning March 23rd. President Roosevelt, at the request of local officials, urged the men to postpone the strike in favor of continued negotiations. Efforts at federal mediation continued through April with no meaningful results. Eventually, the twelve hundred men of a newly organized Pacific Coast District ILA officially walked out on May 9th, 1934 (Quin 41-45, Johnson 78-81). 

Longshoremen, or dock laborers, strove to unite in these efforts with Seamen, the ship laborers, and Teamsters, freight transportation drivers, thereby forming a unified front of labor across the shipping industry. These efforts towards unity also broke down walls of segregation, bringing in all men regardless of race, nationality, or immigrant status. Jobs were still highly gendered, but women were very active at the ILA soup kitchen and in the International Labor Defense organization which represented workers in legal matters (Johnson 84). These endeavors paid off when, on May 13, San Francisco’s Teamsters voted in favor of a sympathy strike, stipulating they would not transport any goods moving in or out the ports. Sympathetic strikes and boycotts spread through the maritime industry throughout May of 1934, including the International Seamen’s Union, the Marine Workers’ Industrial Union, the Boilermakers and Machinists Union, and others. All ports along the West Coast came to a standstill (Johnson 82-84, Quin 48-49).

Johnson, Victoria. How Many Machine Guns Does It Take to Cook One Meal? : The Seattle and San Francisco General Strikes. University of Washington Press, 2008.

Quin, Mike. The Big Strike. International Publishers, 1949.