War on the Docks:
Puget Sound’s Longshoremen in the 1934 Strike
In Seattle, employers responded to the strike by employing scab labor. ILA members knew that if men crossed the picket lines and opened up the ports, their strike was sure to fail.
Early on the morning of May 12th, 850 longshoremen
from Tacoma, Seattle, and Everett
gathered on Seattle’s docks to block
scabs. They formed a long “gauntlet” and dissuaded the strikebreakers from going to work. By the end of the day, the ILA members had cleared the dock of scab labor.
ILA members remove
the last scab from Seattle’s docks, May 12, 1934.
GAUNTLET DAY