This is Part II of our special two-part episode with Tacoma longshore workers Zack Pattin and Brian "Skiff" Skiffington. Zack and Skiff 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 conversation with Zack and Skiff, we talked about their winding paths to working on the waterfront and about the beauty and madness of longshore work. In Part II, we take a deeper dive into the politics and history of the ILWU. We talk about what being part of the union has meant to Zack and Skiff, their families, and their coworkers—and we talk about why fixtures like union hiring halls are so important that workers fought and died for them.

 

Additional links/info below...

• Zack's Facebook page and Twitter page
• Brian's Facebook page
• ILWU Local 23's website and Facebook page
• The Ten Guiding Principles of the ILWU 
• 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"
• Stephen McFarland, "'With the Class-Conscious Workers Under One Roof': Union Halls and Labor Temples in American Working-Class Formation, 1880-1970 (dissertation)"
• Union Halls of the World Twitter page

 

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

• Jules Taylor, "Working People theme song"
• Docks, "Get Well"