Ken's Labor Book Reviews From The Archives

"Strikestory." Video by Rhian Miller. A "We Do the Work" special of the California Working Group, 5867 Ocean View Dr., Oakland, CA 94618. 510-547-8484. Aired on WNET Ch. 13, Thurs., May 26, 1997.

In July 1934, in the midst of the Great Depression, union workers shut down San Francisco for three days to win a resounding victory in support of a longshore workers' strike against the shipping companies, martial law and police brutality. It all began on the docks, where longshore workers were organizing to throw off the yoke of the employers and company unions. The workers especially demanded abolition of the corrupt shapeup system where workers were picked daily on the basis of favoritism and payoffs. Of course, unionists were blacklisted throughout the industry. Unionization was triggered by President Roosevelt's National Recovery Act, which gave a green light to organizing from the White House. Longshore workers all along the West Coast went out on strike in May 1934, led in the San Francisco Bay area by an Australia-born radical, Harry Bridges. The employers and the city responded with police brutality, leading to pitched battles between the police and strikers. When the police fired on workers on Bloody Thursday, July 5, Howard Sperry, a longshoreman, and Nick Bordoise, a cook and strike supporter, were killed. The city got the state to declare martial law and send in the National Guard. San Francisco workers replied with a general strike. From teamsters to barbers, filling station attendants to cable car operators -- all went out, and the city ground to a halt. Nothing moved but the tide. The unity of the San Francisco working class in support of the dock workers resulted in a resounding victory, bringing the strikers a six-hour day, a 30-hour week, wage increases and a union-controlled hiring hall. "Strikestory" is colorfully told by union and Spanish Civil War veteran Bill Bailey in conversation with now retired participants in the conflict and strike supporters. Their stories are intermingled with dramatic archival footage, photos, newspaper clippings and period music to recreate a dramatic moment in union history. The most dramatic sequences are footage of pitched battles between police and strikers on the San Francisco waterfront intermixed with reminiscences by Elaine Black Yonda, the only woman on the strike committee, of how she learned of the death of her friend Nick Bordoise on Bloody Thursday. Estolv Ward, then an Oalkland Tribune reporter, describes the funeral procession of 50,000 who filled Market Street in protest. "Strikestory" will be broadcast on public TV stations throughout the nation and on WNET Channel 13 in this area on Thursday, May 28, at midnight. While Channel 13 is to be praised for being the only public television station in the area to air the worthy "We Do the Work" series, consigning its only regular labor program to this less-than-prime-time slot needs to be questioned. Viewers can do this by calling WNET program information at 212-560-3000. -- Ken Nash, DC 37 Ed Fund Library

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