"All I want to do is get a decent
wage, get the cockroaches out of my food, and the bedbugs out of my bunk.
And I can't make a living and I want to work. There was massive unemployment
in 1934 - a lot of people out of work. A lot of people starving. A lot of
people destitute. A lot of people desperate for any kind of job to support
their families. They put out the word in Arkansas and Kansas: 'Seamen on
Strike - Jobs on the Pacific Coast.' They came out here, were given police
escorts, and they took our jobs. We formed a peaceful picket line. The mayor
ordered them to stop us at all costs." Captain David Saunders, 3rd
Mate, 1934. |
On Thursday,
July 5, 1934, San Francisco police shot and killed longshoreman Howard
Sperry and a cook, Nick Bordoise, near Steuart and Mission Streets in what
became known as Bloody Thursday. In May of
that year, City dock workers walked off the job, joining a coast-wide strike
for better hours and higher pay for longshoremen, as well as protection
against cronyism and graft. With ship crewmen and Teamsters joining, the
strike was effective and threatened to further cripple the already depressed
California economy. Businesses attempted to circumvent strikers by moving
cargo from a rented warehouse on King Street to Pier 38 with the protection
of hundreds of SFPD officers on July 3. Fighting between police and strikers
sent 25 to the hospital. Two days later, the fighting continued at Rincon
Hill where the killings took place and more than a hundred were injured.
Following Bloody Thursday, the City was beset by a general strike that
completely halted commerce here for three days. After federal arbitration,
a system was created for fair selection of dock workers. A union dispatcher
and hiring hall were also formed. Also as a result of the strike, longshoreman
Harry Bridges was elevated to prominence as a labor leader. A marker along
the Embarcadero with a timeline of events commemorates the general strike
and Bloody Thursday. The renovated
Ferry Plaza
is named in honor of Bridges. |