Description
Transcript and sound recording of Lucille
Kendall's November 7, 1979 interview with San Francisco labor organizer Louis
Goldblatt documenting his involvement in the labor movement of the 1930s and 1940s
in San Francisco, California, and throughout the Pacific Coast, as well as the
history of the San Francisco hotel strikes of 1937 and 1941-1942.
Background
Louis Goldblatt was a prominent labor organizer in the San Francisco Bay Area and
throughout the Pacific Coast for over five decades. Born in the Bronx and educated
at the University of California, Berkeley, Goldblatt began his labor career in 1936
as a San Francisco warehouse union organizer. A close associate of Harry Bridges, he
helped organize the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU) the
following year. From 1938 to 1977, Goldblatt served as secretary-treasurer of the
ILWU. At the same time, he was active in the Congress of Industrial Organizations
(CIO), serving as secretary-treasurer of the California State Industrial Union
Council from 1938 to 1942. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Goldblatt helped organize
workers in California and Hawaii across racial and industrial lines. Although he did
not actively participate in the San Francisco hotel strikes of 1937 and 1941-1942,
Goldblatt spoke before mass audiences of striking culinary workers in 1941. He died
in 1983.
Extent
Transcript: 1 folder (0.1 Linear feet);
Tapes: 2 audiocassettes
Restrictions
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