by Tom Price

George “the Greek” Kuvakas Sr. was in his seventh decade of service to the union when he died July 7. In his day he served longshore Local 13 and walking bosses’ Local 94 in many offices, and then he put in his considerable energy into the pensioners clubs. George was known as Harry Bridges’ right hand man and a real tough business agent on the waterfront.

He was born in Youngstown, Ohio in 1924. His dad was a steelworker and George worked odd jobs around town before hopping a freight to California. He was about 14 or 15 at the time, according his son, Local 94’s George (Dan) Kuvakas Jr.

“He probably finished 8th or 9th grade in school, so everything else he learned he learned on the streets,” his son said. “He kicked around California a while and befriended a couple guys who worked on the waterfront. He lied about his age and got onto the docks at age 16.”

In 1943 he met Carol, a Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. volunteer, while she was checking cargo at Matson Terminals. They married Sept. 1944 and gave birth to their eldest son George a year later.

The first recorded instance of Kuvakas’ service to the union began in the spring of 1951 when Local 13 members elected him secretary of the Stewards Council. He showed a keen interest in politics, and members elected him to the Southern Calif. District Council in 1954 and Business Agent later that year.

In those days, longshore workers loaded ships with the strength of their backs and the union was engaged in a long battle to enforce safety standards on the employer. Kuvakas attended the union’s first Longshore Safety Conference in San Francisco in 1955 and accepted the Longshore Caucus’ election to attend a national safety conference later that year.

Meanwhile the employers were active. They had decided to bring ships in with the hatch covers off, raising both safety and jurisdictional issues that triggered a union beef. The employers asked the government for help. A congressional committee met in Los Angeles and toured the docks. Kuvakas testified before the committee in Washington, D.C. The committee denied the employers’ requests and instead recommended a national safety program. Here how George tells the story:

“This safety program held its first meeting with the unions and employers in the USA,” he said in 2002. “It was held in May 1956 with President Eisenhower. I was present representing the ILWU.”

He also represented the ILWU at the President’s Safety Conf. in Washington, D.C. in March 1958. Some years later the Occupational Safety and Health Act would be established, in part because of the efforts of people like Kuvakas.

Local 13 members elected Kuvakas president in 1960. Back in the 1948 strike dockers around the world came to the ILWU’s aid. Kuvakas maintained that internationalist tradition, visiting Mexican longshoremen in 1961. Mexican dockers had paid the ILWU a solidarity visit earlier that year. He described their wages and working conditions in his report in The Dispatcher. For their part, the Mexican visitors to Long Beach were impressed with the turnout at Local 13 meetings and the spirit of union democracy.

Kuvakas attended the Pacific and Asian Dockworkers’ Conference in Japan later that year, bringing greetings from the ILWU’s Mexican docker friends who were unable to attend for financial reasons and because their government had objected.

The conference praised the ILWU’s fight for union jobs in the face of mechanization and modernization. The conference also advocated formal registration lists for dockers, as supported by the International Labor Organization’s conventions. Closer to home, he would serve as a troubleshooter for Harry Bridges during ILWU Canada’s 1963 contract talks.

He left Local 13 in 1963 for Local 94. He retired in 1980, but kept up the fight.

“I noticed the education George was doing through the pensioners and now that he was retired,” Coast Committeeman Ray Ortiz Jr. said. “He was a tough old bird, loved debate, but he had a heart of gold.”

Kuvakas held up his end during the 2002 contract struggle, speaking to thousands in at a rally in August:

“Just remember who we are fighting,” he said, “a warlord named George W. Bush.”
Just before Christmas in 1961, an area newspaper ran a full-page story on Local 13 and its contributions to the community. The article quoted Kuvakas paying homage to the old timers in words that could easily describe himself and his generation.

“They built up the organization through the years with two hard-fought strikes before the war and two after it,” he said. “If it hadn’t been for those old timers battling for better conditions our younger generation would not only have no jobs—it couldn’t even exist.”

He is survived by Alice, his wife of 26 years, his two sons George and Randall, his stepchildren Judy, Kenny and Ginny, and 12 grandchildren and six great grandchildren.