Hundreds of longshore workers gathered locally on Wednesday, July 5, to recognize the loss of life that occurred nearly 90 years ago during the months-long maritime strike that led to the formation of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.
Several docworkers died during the strike. But the two who died on July 5, 1934, led to that day being known as “Bloody Thursday.” The labor contract for West Coast dockworkers recognizes July 5 each year as an official holiday, and terminals, including those at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, close on that day.
Locally, this year’s Bloody Thursday recognition began early, with cars and motorcycles gathering at Gardena’s Roosevelt Cemetery, where San Pedro High graduate Dickie Parker and Lomita resident John Knudsen, the first two killed in the 1934 strike, are buried. Parker and Knudsen were both shot on May 15, 1934, at Berth 145 in Wilmington, during a period in which several confrontations along the West Coast played out. The memorial at the cemetery was followed by a daylong family picnic with speeches and sports activities at 22nd Street Park in San Pedro.
The 1934 strike marked a turning point in what was a coast-wide labor struggle that eventually led to the formation of the ILWU.
Six workers died during months of unrest. Besides Parker and Knudsen, Shelvy Daffron in Seattle, James Connor in Portland and Bruce Lindberg, a seaman killed in Hong Kong, were among the deaths, according to longshore union archives and other sources. But Bloody Thursday took place in San Franciso, with police fatally shooting dockworkers Nick Bordoise and Howard Sperry after protesters had surrounded a patrol car.
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