VANGUARD HISTORY CORNER:
PORTLAND’S LABOR HISTORY
NICK GATLIN
Hello, reader, and welcome to the Vanguard History Corner! This reoccurring column will whisk you through the little-known and forgotten history of the Pacific Northwest, as I endeavor to reconnect our past with our present. The past few decades, far from being “the end of history” as some have described it, have exposed some of the deepest fault lines in our national identity—the financial crash of 2008, rising income inequality and, most recently, the coronavirus pandemic have all shaken our collective conscience perhaps more than any time since the Great Depression. Union density has steadily fallen since the 1960s and only about 10.3% of American workers are union members today, a historic low. But all hope is not lost. Nearly 6,000 workers at one Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama are voting on whether or not to form a union, after years of complaints about unsafe working conditions and oppressive productivity demands. As we stand on the precipice of the possibly most important union drive in recent history, it’s important to remember how we got here. Workers trying to unionize today stand on the shoulders of giants, and if the labor movement is to come to power again it must learn the lessons of the past. While discussion of unions and organized labor might often focus on the industrial Northeast and Midwest, the Pacific Northwest has had its fair share of labor actions throughout its history. Three such incidents shed light on the current labor struggle: The 1934 longshoremen’s strike, the 1960–64 run of the Portland Reporter and the Powell’s union campaign.
1934 LONGSHOREMEN’S STRIKE
On May 9, 1934, in the depths of the Great Depression, longshoremen working at ports across the West Coast walked off the job to strike for better wages, union recognition, reduced hours and more. The workers were members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), and they were determined to win union representation. Longshoremen—the workers who loaded and unloaded cargo ships at ports—were and are the backbone of waterfront shipping. The longshoremen’s strike was supported by much of Portland’s working class, and shipping companies had a difficult time finding nonunion workers, otherwise known as scabs, willing to cross the picket line to work. Neither the shipping companies nor the government took kindly to the work stoppage. As Michael Munk wrote in The Pacific Northwest Quarterly in his article “Portland’s ‘Silk Stocking Mob,’” for 82 days “every port from Bellingham to San Pedro” shut down entirely. Maritime commerce ceased, grain
14
OPINION
Egan concludes in his 1975 thesis “That’s Why Organizing Was So Good,” because of the Unemployed Councils; workers from everywhere in the city stood in solidarity with the strikers, bolstering their strength against the class of business owners determined to get them back to work. In the end, in Portland and elsewhere, striking workers across the West Coast won wage and hour improvements, a joint hiring hall and coast-wide union recognition. Today, Oregon International Longshore and Warehouse Union Locals Portland 8 and 40, North Bend 12, Astoria 50 and Powells 5 all stand on the shoulders of the 1934 strikers. May we let their success serve as a lesson on the power of militant unionism, as well as the power of solidarity and collective action.
THE GREAT WATERFRONT STRIKE OF 1934. COURTESY IF THE OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY and lumber exports were disrupted and about 50,000 workers in the state lost their jobs as a result of the strike. Business owners would often try to get strikebreakers through picket lines, escorted by police, in order to keep business moving. In the 1934 strike, however, it wasn’t police that were the biggest impediment to workers, but rather so-called “citizens committees”—citizen vigilantes trained to break the strike. Portland police limited their actions to escorting scabs on their way home, refusing to directly help the businesses like other police departments often did. This made business leaders furious. Arthur Farmer, the maritime commerce manager of the Portland Chamber of Commerce, begged government officials like Governor Julius Meier to invoke martial law and call in the National Guard, suggesting “zoning off a section of the city and putting it under military control.” The striking workers held strong, largely due to the support from the working-class and unemployed people of Portland. The Oregon Unemployment Councils, organized by the Oregon Communist Party and the Oregon Workers Alliance, fought to persuade unemployed workers not to cross the picket line. Delegates from the Unemployed Councils told an ILA meeting they “had 30,000 men to help the strikers” if the need arose. Students from the University of Oregon, Reed College and other universities pledged to “fight all scab-herders” and “prevent students from strike-breaking.” The strike succeeded, Michael
"AFRICAN AMERICAN AND WHITE SHIPPING CLERKS STRIKE IN FRONT OF A FIRE FOR BETTER WAGES AND UNION RECOGNITION." KHEEL CENTER/CORNELL UNIVERSITY
PSU Vanguard • MARCH 16, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
