Posted: Jun 09, 2013 12:04 pm
There's quite a nice article here about all that http://libcom.org/library/effects-autom ... ngshoremen
One of the first things to strike an outsider about San Francisco is the respect and esteem in which longshoremen are held by the rest of the community. They are good credit risks: they are homeowners (yes, some have swimming pools); they are pillars of society; Negro members are deacons and elders of their churches and are regarded in their neighborhoods as doctors used to be by the newly fledged Jewish communities. I cannot think of another part of the country in which, thanks in large part to their union, laborers are so well regarded and are in turn so proud of their work and their affiliation.(Harvey Swados’ essay “West Coast Waterfront: End of an Era” (1961) in A Radical’s America)