Seattle retirees laying a wreath at Shelvy Daffron’s grave. Left to right: Bob Swanson, Pete Kollen, Rudy Martinez and Bob Rogers.
by Tom Price
Longshore workers took July 5 off to remember the tragic incidents up and down the Coast that lead to the founding of the ILWU.
On that day 71 years ago Marine Cooks and Steward’s member Nick Bordoise and longshoreman Howard Sperry were gunned down by police in San Francisco. Dozens were wounded by gunfire. Workers were so furious they turned a coastwise maritime strike into a general strike in San Francisco that closed the city down.
Dickie Parker and John Knudson had been mortally wounded in Los Angeles May 14, 1934 and Shelvy Daffron had been killed June 30 in Seattle. Olaf Helland, a striking sailor, was mortally wounded in Seattle July 19. Bloody Thursday honors their memory and hundreds of others who were injured.
In San Pedro, more than 4,000 ILWU members, retirees, friends and families remembered Bloody Thursday at Peck Park. Newly elected Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spent two hours shaking hands with his many supporters, and the kids had waterslides, face painting and plenty of hot dogs.
"Art Almeida was our historian for the day," said David Ross Sr., one of the event organizers. "He explained what the guys in 1934 did for us. If they could only see what we have now."
The remembrance finished with dancing to several bands, including SIFA, a band featuring members’ kids, and Sal Rodriguez and the All Star Band, with musicians from Ray Charles’ band and other famous bands.
In San Francisco, retirees, friends and families joined with longshore Local 10 members at the big hall on North Point St. to remember the two strikers gunned down a few blocks away. As the ILWU Drill Team stood at attention, everyone bowed their heads and looked at the silhouettes of the two brothers painted on the sidewalk.
"We’re also here to celebrate the fact that we have something to remember," longshore Local 10 President Trent Willis said. "The only time a person, a dream, or a union ever dies is when you forget about it, when you forget what it took to obtain what we have today."
Longshoreman Ben Johnson read a passage from South African feminist Olive Schreiner’s "Story of an African Farm."
"Where I lie down worn out, other men will stand, young and fresh," he read. "By the steps that I have cut they will climb; by the stairs that I have built they will mount. They will never know the name of the man who made them."
Ben is the son of Local 10’s Joe Johnson, a former secretary-treasurer of the Marine Cooks and Stewards union and a longtime speaker at Bloody Thursday rallies before his death in 2000.
Portland area locals remembered Bloody Thursday at Oaks Park. Members and retirees laid a wreath on the river in honor of those who died or were wounded 71 years ago.
Local 5 President Kristi Lovato recalled the significance the remembrance has for Local 5 people.
"We got our charter five years ago and it’s good to be around folks who have been in the ILWU for a long time," Lovato said.
"It gives us a sense of the larger community of the ILWU, to celebrate who we are with the larger community."
Local 8 President Leal Sundet brought the past into the present and future.
"It was in times of uncertainty and hope that our modern union was formed," Sundet said. "It was formed from the blood of July 5th and struggle of that generation. It was that generation and generations to follow that made us what we are today—a proud, powerful and well-respected defender of not just longshoremen, but also the working class."
Sundet finished with:
"Today, we honor the dead on this holy memorial day we call ‘Bloody Thursday.’ Tomorrow we reenter the never-ending struggle to survive."
Seattle area retirees began the day by laying a wreath on Shelvy Daffron’s grave. Later longshore Local 19 retiree Art Mink spoke from the stage at the union’s Vasa Park picnic. He told the story of the 1934 strike and how that victory led to the end of the humiliating "shape up" system of hiring and the beginning of a real union hiring hall.
Nearly 1,300 members, friends and family turned out. Members of the Federated Auxiliaries, retirees, clerks’ Local 52 and bosses’ Local 98 helped. The band "Hot Cargo," composed of ILWU casuals, sang labor songs. The kids had plenty of games, washable tattoos, arts and crafts and swimming.
"We wanted the casuals to know they were welcome," Scott Martinez, one of the event organizers said. "That way, when contract time comes around, they’ll know what family they belong to."
