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Article: San Francisco Labor Leader Profiled in Play.
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
- Article date:
- October 28, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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By Debbie Cafazzo, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Oct. 28--During the Great Depression of the 1930s, working on the waterfront meant long hours, brutal conditions and meager pay.
Cargo that now moves efficiently in truck-sized containers manipulated by giant cranes was carried into and out of the holds of ships by human beings. Desperate workers were hired as casual day laborers -- sometimes after they had agreed to a kickback of part of their wages -- and had no on-the-job rights. A man named Harry Bridges helped change all that, with the founding of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Bridges, ...