One of the most thrilling episodes of American labor history will soon come to life on Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB).
An hour-long documentary, The 1934 Waterfront Strike: Solidarity on the Docks, will air at 9 p.m. Monday July 25 as part of OPB’s Oregon Experience series. The documentary tells the story of a strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association (which later became ILWU) that shut down West Coast ports for 83 days. The police killing of two union members on “Bloody Thursday” led to the San Francisco General Strike, which virtually shut down the city for four days and ended in a settlement. Some of the terms of that settlement remain in effect to this day, and ILWU continues to observe Bloody Thursday as a paid holiday July 25.
The documentary will air again Wednesday July 27 at 2 a.m., and be available for streaming after July 11.
