July 31, 1934: West Coast Waterfront Strike Ends

The longshoremen’s solidarity, community support, and militancy won them coast-wide union recognition, a joint hiring hall, and substantial wage and hour improvements. The Portland local joined the post-strike movement to reject their corrupt AFL union and to join Harry Bridges’s International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU). Oregon ILWU locals now include Portland 8 and 40, North Bend 12, Astoria 50, Powell’s 5, as well as the Columbia River Pensioners Association, which stand on the foundation of the 1934 strike as rare survivors of militant unionism. [“West coast waterfront strike of 1934” entry in the Oregon Encyclopedia]