Thousands of dockworkers gathered on Friday, July 5, to mark what’s known as “Bloody Thursday,” the founding of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union that loads and unloads cargo from the ships that call at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Friday began with a trip to the Roosevelt Memorial Park in Gardena, where San Pedro High School graduate Dickie Parker and Lomita resident John Knudsen are buried. Both union supporters died in 1934 during a strike when they joined a group that confronted replacement workers on the Wilmington docks on May 14. Parker was 20 and Knudsen 43 when they were killed in the bloody confrontation.
Parker died at the scene, while Knudsen died later in a Long Beach hospital. Parker’s funeral procession ended at Barton Hill Elementary School in San Pedro, his alma mater. He and Knudsen, according to the records, were the first casualties of the labor dispute, which continued to intensify as it culminated in early July in San Francisco.
“First, we showed the world that when working people stick together, there’s little they can’t do,” Gary Herrera, president of ILWU Local 13, said in a statement. “Second, it was also about supporting democracy. Finally, we forced the employers to treat us as equals about the work we do, how we do it and what we get paid for it. The principles for which we fought in 1934 are still true today.”
July 5 — 90 years ago — became known as “Bloody Thursday” with two more union members losing their lives.
The day is recognized as a day off and port operations are largely shut down in recognition of the struggle it took to form the ILWU.
After the cemetery visit, union members headed to 22nd Street Park in San Pedro for picnics, music and speeches.
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