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International Longshore and
Warehouse Union, Local 17 Records
D-591
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Davis Library,
Dept. of Special Collections
Title: International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 17
Records
Creator:
International Longshore and
Warehouse Union. Local 17
Identifier/Call Number: D-591
Physical Description:
97.4 linear
feet
Date (inclusive): 1935-2012
Abstract: The collection
documents warehouse organizing in the West Sacramento area.
Includes minutes, correspondence, administrative files,
photographs, picket signs, and memorabilia.
Physical Location: Researchers
should contact Archives and Special Collections to request
collections, as many are stored offsite.
by Robin Walker, ILWU
Librarian/Archivist
Local 17 traces its history back to Northern California
waterfront warehouse organizing campaigns at the beginning of the
20th Century. Early efforts were centered in the San Francisco
Bay Area and resulted in transitory victories. In 1919, San
Francisco warehouse workers received a charter to organize
workers from the American Federation of Labor as the Cereal,
Flour, and Rice Mills, Public Weighers and Warehouse Workers,
Local 38‐44, International Longshoremen's Association (ILA). The
San Francisco‐based local quickly grew to 2,000 members and
planned the organization of waterfront storage facilities in
Stockton and Sacramento. However, the boom period was
short‐lived, due to an anti‐union drive by employers in 1921.
The San Francisco warehouse local was not revived until 1934,
when ILA longshoremen and other maritime workers along the
Pacific Coast struck for three months, winning union recognition
and a contract covering all west coast dockworkers. This victory
strengthened the ILA and encouraged successful organizing drives
for warehouse workers along the West Coast, particularly in
California. Longshoremen lent their full support to these drives,
understanding that union warehousemen working in facilities
adjacent to the docks could help protect longshore standards and
prevent employers from deploying non‐union workers as
strikebreakers.
This strategy proved successful, and sparked major growth in
warehouses, spreading inland from major ports. This "march
inland" resulted in rapid unionization of warehouses throughout
Northern California. By mid‐1935, the ILA had strongholds in the
town of Crockett, where the Sacramento & San Joaquin Rivers
enter San Francisco Bay. Commercial warehouses and grain mills
surrounding Stockton and Sacramento were also organized. The
growing number of members necessitated the creation of a new
warehouse local, and the ILA established Local 38‐118 to
represent workers in the Sacramento area. Two years later,
Pacific Coast ILA members voted to become independent from the
ILA and formed the International Longshoremen's and
Warehousemen's Union. It was at this time that Local 38‐118
became ILWU Local 17. By 1943, some 85% of the warehouse workers
in Sacramento belonged to the local.
In 1937, at the height of this revival, employers in San
Francisco formed a consortium to address the threat of warehouse
unionism. After warehouse workers succeeded in forming unions
despite employer opposition, the Industrial Employers and
Distributors Association (IEDA) reorganized to become a
multi‐employer bargaining group for the Northern California
warehouse industry. To this day, the majority of employers hiring
ILWU warehouse workers in Northern California are part of the
IEDA, and pension and welfare benefits throughout the industry
are covered under a blanket agreement.
By the 1980s, the ILWU's Warehouse Division faced a growing
trend of shutdowns, relocations, mechanization, and anti‐union
activity that caused major membership erosion. Local 17's
strength declined as their membership dwindled. By the 2000's,
the local's membership lay primarily within one employer,
Farmer's Rice in Sacramento. Despite revitalization efforts and
an impressive organizing campaign in the almond industry that
fell short, ILWU Local 17 faced serious problems. Excessive
spending for union staff and real estate holdings, combined with
growing membership concern over pension solvency led members to
affiliate with Local 150 of the International Brotherhood of
Teamsters in 2011.
The records of International Longshore and Warehouse Union
Local 17 span the years 1936-2012. The history of the local is
represented through company files, administrative files,
photographs, , and memorabilia. Series 1, Company Files, includes
correspondence and contracts relating to collective bargaining
between the union and companies employing union-represented
workers. Series 2, Administrative Files, addresses the day-to-day
operation of the union and includes membership lists, dispatch
records, meeting minutes, correspondence, and information on
political action. Grievance and arbitration files are mainly
located within Series 1, Company Files, although some are also
found in Series 2, Administrative Files. The collection also
includes photographs and signage, picket signs, and a small
amount of other memorabilia.
The collection is arranged in three series: 1. Company Files;
2. Administrative Files; and 3: Photographs and Memorabilia.
Collection is open for research.
Liz Phillips processed this collection with the assistance of
cataloger April Chen and student assistant Julie Jeon.
Gift of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 17
Pensioners Club, 2015.
[Identification of item], Inventory of the International
Longshore and Warehouse Union. Local 17 Records, D-591, Archives
and Special Collections, UC Davis LibraryGeneral Library,
University of California, Davis.
All applicable copyrights for the collection are protected
under chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code. Requests for
permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted
in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for
publication is given on behalf of the Regents of the University
of California as the owner of the physical items. It is not
intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder,
which must also be obtained by the researcher.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Labor movement -- United States -- History
-- 20th century
Labor union locals -- California
International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Local
17 -- Archives