(L-R) Danny Miranda, ILWU Local 94 President; Kamala Harris, CA Attorney General; JoJo Cortez, ILWU Local 13 President; Bobby Olvera, Jr., ILWU Local 13 Vice President; Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary –Treasurer, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
The ILWU has a long and proud tradition of fighting for civil rights. The membership has demanded a principled defense of civil rights and civil liberties for all workers, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or political point of view even when those stands were unpopular with the public. And from its beginnings, the ILWU was a racially integrated union.
ILWU locals up and down the coast celebrated the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at labor and community events commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Some of those events included:
ILWU Local 6 hosted the city’s Martin Luther King celebration at their hall in Oakland, CA. A standing-room only crowd that represented the diversity of Oakland gathered to honor the legacy of Dr. King. Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, and Representative Barbara Lee were among the elected officials who spoke at the event. ILWU members in San Francisco also celebrated Martin Luther King Day at a labor breakfast.
Twelve-year-old Francisco Gaskin, son of ILWU member Frank Gaskin spoke at the San Francisco breakfast. He compared the legacies of Martin Luther King Jr., and Harry Bridges. He talked about the longstanding support of ILWU Local 10 members to the civil rights struggle and to remember Martin Luther King, Jr., who was an honorary Local 10 member.
ILWU members, pensioners, and their families at the San Francisco MLK Labor breakfast.
“Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream and Harry Bridges had a vision. Harry Bridges was born in Australia. He came to America and changed the labor movement in San Francisco. Together Harry and Martin Luther King Jr. fought different fights, but the outcome was the same,” Francisco said.
“On September 21st 1967 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at a Local 10 membership meeting. Leo Robinson and Dave Stewart, Local 10 rank and filers passed a resolution for all international unions in their union contracts making Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday a paid Holiday. Local 10 adopted it as a contract caucus for the Longshore Caucus. The Longshore division gained Dr. King’s Birthday as a paid holiday.”
Southern California ILWU loca
(L-R) Danny Miranda, ILWU Local 94 President; Kamala Harris, CA Attorney General; JoJo Cortez, ILWU Local 13 President; Bobby Olvera, Jr., ILWU Local 13 Vice President; Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary –Treasurer, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
l members celebrated Dr. King on Friday, January 14, as the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor honored Alvin Turner and Baxter Leach at annual MLK Jr. Labor Breakfast. Turner and Leach are two former rank-and-file AFSCME Memphis sanitation workers and veterans of the historic 1968 Memphis sanitation strike where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.