San Francisco Working Waterfront, early 1900s

San Francisco's working waterfront was booming in the 1910s. The opening of the Panama Canal in 1914, and shipping demands of World War I between 1914-18 kept the ports busy and workers employed steadily. Wages were decent, and shipowners generally engaged in negotiations and conceded to union requests to keep freight moving, especially during the war years. But after its conclusion, working conditions soured as inflation went up and wages went down. Strikes across the country in 1919 failed to secure workers' requests and weakened their long term negotiating power, in many cases because the unions were not racially inclusive and employers could use African American labor to break the strikes, many of whom had few alternative options for employment (Nelson 133).

In the 1920s, longshoremen had little say in daily life on the piers. Membership in a “Blue Book” union run by the port companies was required for anyone seeking a position. Jobs were handed out each morning at the "shape-up", which was essentially a pool of available day laborers. Working one day did not guarantee a shift the next; longshoremen were not hired permanently or even weekly, making incomes uncertain. These men were also subject to the “speed-up” while on the job. If a foreman decided someone was working too slowly, they could fire them on the spot and bring in a younger fresher replacement from the pool of waiting men. This was particularly punitive for older workers who were trying to support their families. Anyone who spoke against these ambiguous working conditions could easily be Blacklisted by the Blue Book at the behest of shipowners (Johnson 73-74).

In 1929, the stock market crash set off the Great Depression and employment along the embarcadero became even more dubious. Families were going hungry and homelessness skyrocketed. Men lined up across from Pier 23, now Levi Plaza, to satiate their hunger at the White Angel soup kitchen. Dorothea Lange took her famous picture "White Angel Breadline" just up the street in 1933. The industry's attitude along the pier were that workmen should be grateful to have a job at all, regardless of hours or unsafe practices.

In June 1933, the National Industrial Recovery Act went into effect, passed by President Franklin Roosevelt, formally recognizing and giving legal standing to unions. Utilizing this new method of redress, in 1934 workers across the country participated in 1,856 work stoppages, requesting many of the same things: fairer hiring practices, establishing basic safety measures, and better wages (Johnson 73). In San Francisco, armed with these newly minted rights, organizers finally gained traction with workers to drop their blue books and join the newly reformed and reorganized ILA International Longshoremen's Association, lead by Harry Bridges.

There are two markers in close proximity at this location. The first, about 1/3 of the way along the pier, describes the development of the wharf, and the second, about two-thirds down the pier, gives an overview of the 1934 strike.

Johnson, Victoria L. . How many Machine Guns does it take to Cook One Meal? : The Seattle and San Francisco General Strikes.. University of Washington Press, 2008.

Nelson, Bruce. Workers on the Waterfront: Seamen, Longshoremen, and Unionism in the 1930s. University of Illinois Press, 1988.