Historical Note:
Scope and Contents
Arrangement of Materials:
Related Materials:
Conditions Governing Access:
Conditions Governing Use:
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Preferred Citation:
Processing Information:
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU), Local 13 Records,
Part I
Creator:
International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, Local 13
(Wilmington, Los Angeles, Calif.)
Identifier/Call Number: URB.ILWU-I
Extent:
28.52 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1933-1989
Abstract: The
International
Longshore
and
Warehouse
Union
(ILWU) is a labor union which primarily represents dock workers on the West
Coast of the United States, and was established in 1937. The Los Angeles Chapter, Local 13,
was established shortly thereafter. The collection documents the establishment, development,
goals, and achievements of unionism on the Pacific Coast, including labor/management
relations, labor conditions on the waterfront, the sudden effects of mechanization on the
longshore labor force, and the day-to-day administration of this longshore union.
Language of Material: English
Historical Note:
In 1892, members of the longshore union met in Detroit, Michigan to christen their
organization as the National Longshoremen's Association of the United States. The new union
quickly became an official arm of the trade unionist movement by joining with the American
Federation of Labor (AFL). With successful expansion into ports on the east and west coasts,
including several Canadian ports by 1895, the union changed its name to the International
Longshoremen's Association (ILA).
By the end of 1933, West Coast longshoremen voted to suspend local ILA president Lee
Holman rather than accept a conservative contract largely supported by the East Coast
membership. This was a major setback for ILA president Joe Ryan. Thus, the 1934 West Coast
Longshore Strike began.
Union solidarity and commitment to coast-wide bargaining gained during the early days of
the 1934 West Coast Strike and the support shown through the San Francisco General Strike
gave longshoremen the confidence they needed to turn down the settlement agreed to by Joe
Ryan, President of the ILA, and continue the strike. Except for San Pedro longshoremen,
whose conservative leadership convinced its membership to abide by the agreement, the rest
of the West Coast locals voted in favor of continuing their violent struggle for recognition
and a coast wide agreement more favorable to dockworkers.
The 1934, West Coast Strike was the first truly successful attempt by the ILA to gain
control of the waterfront. It was also the beginning of the end for the conservative faction
within the International to maintain control of the West Coast longshoremen. On October 12,
1934 a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) arbitration ruling awarded the longshoremen
increases in base rates of pay, provisions for penalty cargo rates, the establishment of the
thirty-hour work week, and, most important, joint operation of the hiring hall whereby
dispatchers would be selected by the ILA.
In the coming years, numerous setbacks coupled with the lack of International support for
the 1936 West Coast 98-day maritime strike led many of the West Coast locals to form an
independent "Waterfront Federation." The final break from the ILA came in May during the
1937 Annual Convention of the ILA's Pacific Coast District, when three resolutions were
passed by the membership to leave the AFL to join the newly established Committee of
Industrial Organizations (later known as the CIO).
In August 1937, the CIO issued a new charter to the "International Longshoremen's and
Warehousemen's Union" (ILWU). Then, in June 1938, the National Labor Relations Board voted
in favor of the ILWU as the recognized bargaining agent for the entire Pacific Coast. The
ILWU has remained separate from the ILA since these early jurisdictional, political and
organizational disputes. In 1950, the ILWU would again face political turmoil with a growing
conservatism within the CIO. The longshoremen of the West Coast, along with ten other
"left-wing" unions were expelled from the CIO during the early years of the Cold War. The
fact that the ILWU was the only union to survive this drastic measure by the national
organization attests to the solidarity of its leadership and membership and their continued
commitment to union activism.
Scope and Contents
The
International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU),
Local 13 Records, Part I,
documents the establishment, development, goals, and
achievements of unionism on the Pacific Coast through agreements, arbitration awards,
bulletins, convention proceedings, committee records, contracts, correspondence, legal
documents, and audio-tapes. The records describe labor/management relations, labor
conditions on the waterfront, the sudden effects of mechanization on the longshore labor
force, and the day-to-day administration of this longshore union. The collection is
organized in three parts, of which this is Part I. Part I has been divided into five major
series:
Executive Board and Regular Meetings, Local 13
(1933-1972),
Committee and Council Records (1934-1971),
Arbitration Awards (1934-1959),
Longshore, Ship
Clerks, and Walking Bosses Caucus
(1959-1965), and
Subject
Files
(1942-1956).
Series I,
Executive Board and Regular Meetings, Local 13
, consists predominately of minutes for meetings of the Executive
Board and Regular Meetings of the membership at Local 13 Union Hall in Wilmington. Records
dating from the formation of the local were transcribed from the original journals in 1954.
Of particular note are the extensive minute files and audio-recordings of the Executive
Board, Regular meetings of ILWU, Local 13 and Stop Work meetings resulting from worker
complaints. The proceedings of the ILWU Longshore, Ship Clerks & Walking Bosses Caucus
are also well documented through convention minutes and the working papers of former
Vice-President Lou Loveridge. The 1971/1972 Longshore Strike is well-documented through the
files of the Picket Committee, the Strike Committee and the
ILWU
Strike Bulletin
. The original handwritten minutes books of Local 13's secretary and
cover Executive Board Meetings (1935-1967), Regular Meetings (1933-1966), Membership
Committee Meetings (1936-1955) and Registration Advisory Committee Meetings (1955-1965). The
files alternate between Board and Regular meetings, and are arranged chronologically.
Series II,
Committee and Council Records, contains minutes and
working papers documenting the activities and responsibilities of the many committees and
councils within the administrative structure of Local 13 and the Pacific Coast longshore
union. The files depict the internal management of the local's activities, membership and
relations with business associates. Committee assignments of particular interest include:
Grievance Committee (1937-1969), Labor Relations Committee (1934-1971), Membership Committee
(1935-1955) and Steward's Council (1952-1964). The files are arranged in alphabetical order
by name of committee and chronological within each division.
Series III,
Arbitration Awards
,
consists of an extensive collection of individual cases brought before the local or
coastal arbitrator describe in detail the various complaints, conflicts and labor issues
that occurred between union and employer. Yearly samples of employer complaints, conditional
penalty reports, jurisdictional dispute reports, union and warehouse complaints and visitor
registration sheets were taken to reduce the bulk of these documents within the collection.
Most of the complaints by management were resolved in-house through the Grievance Committee,
or, in severe cases, through the Trial Committee. Other complaints were settled by the Joint
Labor Relations Committee, while a smaller number reached arbitration at the Area or
National Labor Relations Board levels. The rulings of the area arbitrator document those
issues which could not be settled by negotiations between the union and management. The
series is divided into four subseries:
Chronological Notebooks
(1934-1940, 1946-1984), contains awards filed chronologically into notebooks. Each notebook
begins with a comprehensive index.
Awards Notebook (1946-1948),
contains one notebook (labeled Book No. 7) of awards effecting longshoremen coast wide and
other ILWU locals. Documents are arranged by local number.
Pacific Coast
Agreement Awards
(1935-1959), contains awards that pertain specifically to the
Pacific Coast Agreement. The files are arranged section by section of the agreement, Section
I-XI, each with its own index of cases; and
Arbitration Awards
(1935-1959), contains a small number of arbitration awards filed by subject for the period
1935-1959. The documents are arranged alphabetically.
Series IV,
Longshore, Ship Clerks, and Walking Bosses
Caucus
, contains the bi-annual proceedings of the ILWU
Longshore, Ship Clerks & Walking Bosses Caucus. The proceedings include agreements,
committee reports, negotiation plans and reports, resolutions, statements and remarks of
major speakers to the conference. There are some gaps in the proceedings, especially for the
period 1964-1965. The proceedings are arranged in semi-bound and bound volumes
chronologically.
Series V,
Subject Files, contains agreements, the newsletter
Facts for June 1948, Pacific Maritime Board rulings, and
longshore case exhibits that document historical events in the ILWU's past. Of particular
significance are the various agreements signed between the ILWU and the Pacific Maritime
Association (PMA) covering job assignments, health plans, pension agreements and related
work issues. Also of interest are the ILWU exhibit files which document longshore agreements
and work during World War II. The exhibits were presented to the War Labor Board during
hearings conducted in the 1940s. The files for this subject series are arranged
alphabetically.
Arrangement of Materials:
Series I: Executive Board and Regular Meetings, Local 13, 1933-1972
Series II: Committee and Council Records, 1934-1971
Series III: Arbitration Awards, 1934-1959
Subseries A: Chronological Notebooks, 1934-1940, 1946-1948
Subseries B: Awards Notebook, 1946-1948
Subseries C: Pacific Coast Agreement Awards, 1935-1959
Subseries D: Arbitration Awards, 1935-1959
Series IV: Longshore, Ship Clerks, and Walking Bosses Caucus, 1959-1965
Series V: Subject Files, 1942-1956
Related Materials:
Conditions Governing Access:
The collection is open for research use.
Conditions Governing Use:
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge.
Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires
the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union Local 13, 10-13/1982.
Preferred Citation:
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual,
or see the
Citing Archival Materials
guide.
Processing Information:
Robert G. Marshall, 1985
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Audiovisual materials
Documents