6/24 Meeting On Protection Of Historic ILA Strike Central Headquarters & Establishment Of Labor Education/Media/Organizing Center

URGENT CALL TO ACTION

STRATEGY MEETING ON WEDNESDAY JUNE 24 AT ILWU LOCAL 34 HALL

WHERE: ILWU Local 34 Hall at Berry Street adjacent to AT&T Park (2nd and King)

WHEN: 7:00 p .m to 9:00 p.m.

WHAT: Preparing the fight to preserve the Waterfront, itsr labor legacy and to create a landmark Labor Educational, Media and Organizing Center at 113 Steuart Street that enhances the Waterfront and preserves its historic, environmental and architectural legacy.

PRESERVE 113 STEUART STREET, SITE OF ILA HEADQUARTERS AND GROUND ZERO FOR THE 1934 GREAT MARITIME AND GENERAL STRIKE


On March 17 after five hours of public testimony in which the ILWU, Maritime Unions, Labor Historians, Waterfront Residents and Preservationists exposed the attempt by developers to demolish the nerve center of the 1934 General Strike on this its 75th anniversary, the Board of Supervisors voted overwhelmingly to reject the Planning Commission decision to allow Hines Real Estate to raze 113 Steuart Street and put up a high rise that violates planning criteria for the Waterfront.



This is our opportunity to set the agenda: to organize for a project at 113 that preserves the Hall and fulfills the historic role and purpose of this labor landmark.



Contribute to the discussion on how to transform 113 Steuart Street into a labor educational center that celebrates our living history and provides organizing and media center for labor and the community.



JOIN the ILWU, Maritime and Bay Area Union activists, Labor Historians, Defenders of Planning that preserves our neighborhoods,

labor and community proponents for rebuilding the infrastructure of our city, restoring affordable housing, renewing our decaying schools .



THE ILWU INTERNATIONAL AND THE LONGSHORE CAUCUS FOR THE ENTIRE WEST COAST AT THE ILWU CONVENTION IN SEATTLE, WASHINGTON (JUNE 8TH TO JUNE 12TH 2009) PASSED UNANIMOUSLY THE ATTACHED RESOLUTION THAT CALLS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF 113 STEUART STREET AS A LANDMARKED LABOR HISTORY MUSEUM, LABOR EDUCATION AND TRAINING CENTER.



Join us on June 24th and be part of the struggle to make this happen!


International Longshore and Warehouse Union
Thirty-fourth International Convention
Seattle, Washington - June 8 – 12, 2009
Resolution #R-17 passed unanimously 113 STEUART STREET
WHEREAS: 113 Steuart Street, the landmark building that was ground
zero for the Great Maritime and General Strike of 1934 was
targeted for demolition by the multi-billion dollar
developer Hines Real Estate; and
WHEREAS: from 1933 to 1935, the International Longshoremen’s
Association (now the ILWU) Local 38-79 was located on
the second floor of this very building and that this Local is
the direct predecessor of ILWU Local 10; and
WHEREAS: Hines Developers concealed the address of the building to
prevent Maritime workers and organized labor from
discovering their plan to demolish this historic site; and
WHEREAS: Hines ordered a false “Historic Study” stating that neither
the building nor anyone associated with it had made any
significant contribution to the history or development of
the city of San Francisco; and
WHEREAS: It was that Bloody Thursday occurred at this very site on
July 5, 1934, that the funeral of the Longshore martyrs,
Howard Sperry and Nick Bordoise took place in this Hall,
that their bodies lay in state there for four days, that the
massive funeral procession for labor’s martyrs across San
Francisco began here; and
WHEREAS: This great silent march electrified working people around
the world and galvanized the broadest support for the
General Strike; and
2
WHEREAS: Police and armed goons fired shotguns, tear gas, chemical
gas bombs and explosives into the windows of the Hall
killing and wounding untold numbers of working people; and
WHEREAS: Harry Bridges and the leaders of the ILA emerged from this
Hall, and the great struggles that were planned and
organized there; and
WHEREAS: Hines claimed falsely that the building no longer exists in
any recognizable form when it is unchanged in all essentials
and the Hall is today as it was in 1934; and
WHEREAS: In 1934 the employers sought to make concessions to
longshore workers alone, and the newspaper headlines
screamed “Strike Over”; and
WHEREAS: Harry Bridges refused to allow the employers to pit workers
against each other; and
WHEREAS: Harry Bridges and the ILA leadership declared that “an injury
to one is an injury to all” and that the struggle was for good
jobs and decent wages and workers’ power for organized
labor; and
WHEREAS: Working people everywhere today need good paying union
jobs; and
WHEREAS: There is vast work to be done in creating decent and
affordable housing for all working people, schools that are
not collapsing around the heads of the students and
teachers, restoration and renewal of the infrastructure
of San Francisco and of cities across the United States; and
WHEREAS: What Harry Bridges and the Great Maritime and General
Strike of 1934 taught us that working people need to stand
united as a mighty, mighty union; and
3
WHEREAS: The jobs we want will only come through the mobilization
of all working people as in 1934; and
WHEREAS: It was the very mobilization of Maritime and organized labor
across San Francisco and the Bay Area that exposed the lies
of Hines and led to a huge victory for all working people on
March 17 when the Board of Supervisors voted
overwhelmingly to reject the Hines project and the lies
presented about it by the developer and his supporters; and
WHEREAS: Hines seeks to impose a ten story glass building 66% over
the height restrictions for the entire Waterfront District;
and
WHEREAS: The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted
overwhelmingly to reject the Planning Board’s “negative
determination” and the demolition of 113 Steuart Street;
and
WHEREAS: Former seven-year ILWU International President Brian
McWilliams led the fight against the destruction of 113
Steuart Street; and
WHEREAS: Officers, executive board members and ranks of all major
Maritime and other unions joined this fight, THEREFORE BE
IT
RESOLVED: That the ILWU Convention calls for 113 Steuart Street to
become a landmarked labor history museum, labor education
and training center and calls for good union jobs for working
people on projects that restore our cities and serve the
needs of our people and not the greed of duplicitous
developers.
RPW/OPIEU29-AFL-CIO

Photos is of the memorial in front of the hall after the killing of Nick Bordoise and Howard Sperry on July 5, 1934