We've got a Working People first! In this special two-part episode, we sit down to chat with not one but two longshore workers: Zack Pattin and Brian Skiffington from Tacoma, WA. Zack and Brian are both members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 23, and organizing leaders with the ILWU Young Workers Committee. In Part I of our expansive, multi-hour conversation with Zack and Brian, we talk about their backstories and the winding paths that brought them to where they are now, working together on the waterfront. We also talk about growing up in union families, their mutual love of punk music, and we talk about the fast pace, precision, adrenaline, danger, and skill of longshore work.  

 

Additional links/info below...

• Zack's Facebook page and Twitter page
• Brian's Facebook page
• ILWU Local 23's website and Facebook page
• ILWU No. 23 Young Workers Committee Facebook page and Twitter page
• Zack Pattin & Brian Skiffington, LaborNotes, "Longshore Young Workers Come to the Aid of Tenants Facing Eviction" 
• The Docker Podcast, "EP# 38: Paul Finch (BCGEU) and Brian Skiffington (ILWU 23)"
• The Docker Podcast, "ILWU 37th Convention Portland Part 10: Zack Pattin (ILWU 23)"

 

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

• Jules Taylor, "Working People theme song"
• Tendinite, "More Whiskey"