Skip to main content Skip to main navigation

International Longshoremen's Association: Reference Files Compiled by the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union

Call Number

WAG.055

Dates

1921-1984, (Bulk 1950s-1970s), inclusive
; 1950-1979, bulk

Creator

International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union
International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (Role: Donor)

Extent

5 Linear Feet (5 boxes)

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

In 1986, the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU) de-accessioned reference files from its Anne Rand Research Library pertaining to its rival, the New York-based International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), and donated them to the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University. The militant ILWU, representing West Coast longshoremen, had once been part of the ILA, but broke away during the bitter labor and political struggles of the mid-1930s. This contentious history forms the backdrop to the ILWU's amassing of extensive reference files on the ILA and its travails. The reference files include handbills, contracts, proceedings, internal documents, and newspaper clippings from the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Journal of Commerceand other trade and labor papers – many of them documenting charges of fraud and racketeering on the New York City waterfront.

Historical/Biographical Note

In 1986, the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union de-accessioned reference files from its Anne Rand Research Library pertaining to its rival, the New York-based International Longshoremen's Association, and donated them to the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University. The ILWU and its reference librarian, Carol Schwartz believed an East Coast location would better serve the research needs of scholars studying Atlantic and Gulf Coast maritime history.

As historian Gary Fink has written, "Longshoremen's unions on the West Coast had traditionally carried on a volatile relationship with the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA)." (Fink, Labor Unions, Greenwood Press, 1977, p.196) Despite fluctuating fortunes of West Coast locals, and a powerful employers association that dominated the industry until the mid-1930s, western longshoremen maintained an uneasy affiliation with the ILA until its conservative president, Joseph Ryan clashed openly with West Coast militants over issues that culminated in the historic San Francisco general Strike of 1934. When militant leader Harry Bridges was elected president of the San Francisco ILA local in 1934 (and later West Coast District president) a split became inevitable. In 1937 the Bridges group obtained a charter from the CIO for the International longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, representing Pacific Coast longshoremen. In the 1940s the two unions added to their ranks while keeping a wary eye on each other, until the ILWU fell afoul of Taft-Hartley Act anti-Communist provisions. Bridges became entangled in legal battles to avoid deportation to his native Australia, and the union found itself vulnerable to raids by the Teamsters and other rivals. At the same time, in the post-World war II period ILA members became increasingly dissatisfied with their leadership, and widespread charges of corruption brought an investigation of the union by the New York State Crime Commission. The result was inconclusive, but the American Federation of Labor demanded extensive reforms; when talks with the ILA broke down the AFL suspended the union and soon chartered a rival, the International Brotherhood of Longshoremen. The fledgling IBL failed make serious inroads in ILA membership, and the ILA reaffiliated to the AFL-CIO in 1959.

This contentious history forms the backdrop to the ILWU's amassing of extensive reference files on the ILA and its travails. This collection represents an unusual glimpse of a union's serious effort to monitor the fortunes of a rival labor organization -- in this case, a rival with which it had once been affiliated.

Arrangement

Both series are arranged alphabetically by topic, and chronologically within topics.

Organized into 2 series:

Missing Title

  1. Series I: Subject Files, 1921-1984.
  2. Series II: Clippings Files, 1939-1979.

Scope and Content Note

The International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU) reference files on the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) consist of 5 linear feet of "everything we could get our hands on about the ILA," according to the ILWU's librarian: handbills, contracts, proceedings, internal documents from negotiations, and newspaper clippings from the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Journal of Commerceand other trade and labor papers. Of particular significance are the clippings files in Series II labeled "Crime and Racketeering" and "American Federation of Labor: Relations," which cover the proceedings of the New York State Crime Commission and the subsequent expulsion of the ILA from the AFL. Also of note are bargaining files ("Agreements, Negotiations"), files on strikes, and files on rank-and-file committees.

Several runs of serials, including the ILA's rank-and-file publication Shape-Up, have been removed from the collection and catalogued as part of the Tamiment Library.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, created by the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date; Collection name; Collection number; box number; folder number;
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, 1986. The accession number associated with this gift is 1986.006.

Related Material at the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

Oral history interviews with Thomas Gleason, ILA President; John Dwyer, leader of the International Brotherhood of Longshoremen; Sam Madell, Rank and File leader in the ILA; and working longshoremen, Ronald and Peter Bell. All interviews were taped in the early 1980s as part of the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives' New Yorkers at Work Oral History Project. (OH # 1).

Collection processed by

Craig Savino and Gail Malmgreen, 2005

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:49:55 -0400.
Language: Description is in English.

Edition of this Guide

This version was derived from ILA Ref Files of the ILWU.doc

Repository

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012