Jim Norton: “Union Man”

On January 18, the ILWU lost a brilliant, dedicated, and humble mentor, Jim Norton. Brought up in a decidedly working-class community, Jim was a lifelong union man and one of the best leaders ever produced by ILWU Local 23. He was a longtime Business Agent, served several terms on the local Labor Relations Committee (LRC), and as a Caucus & Convention delegate

Even years after retirement, Jim stayed active in the union through the Tacoma Pensioners Club, as regional grain arbitrator, and helping negotiate contracts for the local’s allied division at the South Intermodal Yard and with ILWU Local 22 at the Port of Tacoma. Jim was a mentor to multiple generations of longshore workers in Tacoma and a fierce advocate for the ILWU No. 23 Young Workers Committee, embodying the pensioners’ motto of “retired from the job, not from the struggle” better than just about anyone. James P. Norton (#60505) was born February 16, 1939 in Ruston, WA. a small town adjacent to Tacoma’s Old Town neighborhood. His father worked at the old Asarco smelter and was a member of the Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers Local 25, an old left-wing union with close ties to the ILWU. All four of his uncles were members of the Boom Men and Rafter’s Union, rafting logs to the several mills along the old Tacoma waterfront. They snuck him into the union at age 17 (despite needing to be 18 to join). He later worked as a tugboat deckhand with the Inlandboatmen’s Union (IBU) and at Concrete Tech as a member of the Hod Carriers’ Union (now Laborers Local 252).

In 1963, Jim started as a casual longshore worker at the Port of Tacoma and made the B bench on March 20, 1967. He fondly recalled the era of the 10-2 gang structure, referring to the gang as “a family” and the “backbone of the union.” He often drove winch and stayed in the same gang for eight years. Like many of his generation, Jim was a champion of the “Tacoma Advantage”, defined by the local’s driving work ethic and entrepreneurial approach toward working with the Port, especially port manager Roy Perry. He joined several delegations traveling to other ports on behalf of the local, learning to handle rubber in New

Orleans or documenting discrepancies between working conditions on the West Coast and elsewhere. Jim first ran for office after an unsatisfactory ruling on the job from Business Agent George Ginnis. He raised a safety issue about stowing sacks in the wings of the hold, but was ordered back to work by the BA.

Jim held a grudge over it but Ginnis later encouraged him to run for LRC. They quickly became good friends and Jim quickly emerged as an expert on arbitrations in the local. After Ginnis retired, Jim ran for BA and held the position for many years.

Early on, Jim struggled on the LRC. After he got beat in five arbitrations in a row, Jim committed to never letting that happen again. Jim rigorously studied the contract and past rulings. He made a point to remind others that he wasn’t above asking for help either, frequently turning to then ILWU Vice President Rudy Rubio and Coast Committeeman Bobby Olvera Sr. for advice.

Most importantly, it was Jim’s wife, Joan Norton, who was the secret to his success in arbitrations. In an interview last year, Jim recalled how there was no one at the hall who could type or edit well enough to do the job to his standards. So Joan helped at home on her typewriter, transcribing Jim’s notes and making corrections to the final documents.

“I never had one arbitration typed in this local. My wife did ‘em all,” he said. “I didn’t lose many of them. I’m proud of that. And my wife, god bless her, she really helped me a lot — she’s smarter than I am!” Jim was a living legend in Tacoma, particularly for his work as an arbitrator, but with characteristic style always deflected the praise he received. “Maybe I got too much credit,” he said. “You always have mentors or someone to help. All the negotiations I’ve done, I didn’t do ‘em alone. It was guys that helped me and I always appreciated that.”

That kind of support went two ways. For many in Tacoma, Jim was the one helping out when they needed it most. As ILWU Local 23 Vice President Dean McGrath put it, “It really helps to know that someone you’re leaning on has been through rough times too.” Always appealing to unity, Jim’s advice to Dean was always “based around one simple thing: What’s best for the union?”

When Victoria Sowers was working to rebuild ILWU Auxiliary No. 35, Jim was a frequent supporter, always encouraging Victoria and others to keep at it until it stuck. “Jim took me aside to tell me how important the Auxiliary could be to the Local,” she said.

ILWU International President Willie Adams said that Jim Norton was a mentor to him when he first started on the docks of Tacoma in 1978 and continued to provide support and advice throughout his career.

“We lost a Local 23 icon with the passing of Brother Jim Norton,” Adams said. “Jim represented the best of who we are. On the first day of bargaining with the PMA I dedicated these negotiations to Jim Norton and all those that set the table for us.” After Willie was sworn in as ILWU International President by outgoing President Robert McEllrath, he came back home to Local 23 where he was sworn in a second time by none other than Jim Norton.

According to his longtime friend and President of the Tacoma Pensioners Mike Jagielski, Jim was especially proud of his time with the Young Workers Committee (YWC). Mike described their work there as “the best thing we have done on the waterfront.” When YWC started in late 2015, the project didn’t initially stick. It took a few months to gain traction. The committee’s first real success came in securing support from the local Pension Club — specifically from Jim, Mike, Donnie Arneburg and honorary member Dr. Ron Magden.

“We were a group of casuals and B men having meetings about how to get involved in the union, which raised some eyebrows,” said Brian Skiffington, one of YWC’s co-founders in Local 23. “When our old timers got involved, it took all the pressure off. Jim’s support sent signals to people who would have been skeptical that what we were doing was serious. It wouldn’t go off the rails and he’d keep us on track.”

Jim and the other pensioners met with YWC on a weekly basis for three and a half years, with only small breaks for summer and the holidays, until the pandemic disrupted in-person meetings. Some of those were planning meetings for the committee’s Passing the Torch education series or coordinating picket support for other unions. Other times we just met up and talked. Those were the moments where Jim really opened up and was at his best.

He taught us in those meetings was that it’s ok to be vulnerable and to love your union. Like all the longshoremen of his generation, Jim was one of the toughest guys you could ever meet. He was also one of the few you’d see choke up talking about Bloody Thursday and the men who gave their lives to build the union.

It wasn’t lost to us just how lucky we were to work with him. Jim and the other pensioners were our old timers. And when Jim was a young worker, it was the ‘34 Men who were his old timers and mentors. Learning about the union from someone like him meant we were only one step removed from the people who struck for 82 days, won the hiring hall, and built the ILWU from the ground-up. Jim was quite funny and the stories he’d tell about the old waterfront always had the group laughing. A particular favorite was his story about the time he and another Tacoma delegate skipped out on caucus proceedings to grab a drink and were joined by none other than Harry Bridges himself. Bridges was apparently equally disinterested in the debate at that moment and so the three of them just drank in the hotel bar instead.

What Jim appreciated most about the exchange with Harry was that even though Bridges was nearly 40 years their senior and despite the historic tensions between Bridges and an older generation in Tacoma, he effortlessly put that aside and treated these two younger delegates as equals. They talked union and swapped stories. They were just longshoremen together at the bar.

Jim was both grounding and practical when we needed it while simultaneously never limiting or discouraging. He never tried to pull rank or clip anyone’s wings and listened more than he ever spoke. For all of us who came up through the YWC, Jim wasn’t just a mentor and a role model but our friend and equal.

Jessica Fote, a Tacoma B woman and one of YWC’s first organizers put it best: “I’ve wondered many times how someone like Jim who has done so many great things can make anyone feel as an equal, especially a young, inexperienced worker on the waterfront. But it’s because of his long battle and advocacy for the common good, to ensure that every worker gets treated equally. To him we are all equals, no differences between you and I. Jim exemplified ‘an injury to one is an injury to all.’”

There’s a lot going on with the union right now and more than enough struggles ahead of us. Rather than suggest what Jim Norton might have wanted or said in this moment, I’ll leave you with what he did say:

“There’s so many jobs today where people are in need or for want — not us. I never have worried about having three meals a day or having medical coverage, and that means a lot to me and my family. But everything we got, we deserve ‘cause we fought for it.”

If you’re a young worker reading this right now, go find each other and get active in the union. But just as importantly, find your pensioners. Get yourself the mentors you need to organize for the long haul. And if you’re a pensioner, go find your young workers. Invest in them and teach them what you learned the hard way to make sure we keep our union strong. As Jim so often reminded us: “You don’t do these things alone. You do ‘em together.”

– Zack Pattin, ILWU Local 23