A 20 day general levee strike at the port of New Orleans from October 5 through October 25, 1907. Strike by the full contingent of dockworkers, including longshore men and unskilled labor, in support of the highly skilled screwmen who were the focus of the conflict. Notable too for the bi-racial support: although they operated in separate, parallel unions, both black and white laborers translated their long standing practice of half-and-half work on the docks into relative solidarity during the strike.

The primary issue driving the strike and the positions of both sides throughout was “parity” with Galveston, Texas. New Orleans’ strongest competitor in the shipping and waterfront industries, Galveston ----. The pace of screwmen in Galveston became management’s justification for the demands they made on New Orleans screwmen.

Yet after the second week of the strike, the Picayune sought to frame the issue differently. In a commentary on October 23, it maintained that “[t]he contest has apparently narrowed down to a fight for supremacy in the matter of dictating the wages to be paid labor, and not the placing of the port on a parity with Galveston.”

By the midpoint of the strike, rumors began to spread regarding the strikers’ unity in two respects. First, questions were raised about the continued commitment of the general dockworkers to supporting the screwmen who were the focus of the strike. Second, several skeptics challenged the extent to which the black dockworkers and their unions would support their white counterparts.

Interestingly, the Picayune coverage urged a swift resolution of the strike and called for both sides to come together for negotiations, in light of the damage that intractable positions would do to the port economy. The heavy focus on the cost to the New Orleans port economy suggests that the strike indeed had its intended consequences of not only drawing attention to the screwmen and dockworkers’ grievances, but also highlighting how crucial those workers were to the health of the city as a whole. By the third week of the strike, the focus was on the local merchants who relied on the port for the shipment of their goods and suffered “heavy present loss and the prospect of permanent impairment of their trade interests.” It went on to argue that “[e]very day additional that the strike continues that much additional business has been driven away. We have already lost in profits, wages, and commerce, present and prospective, more than can possibly be recovered during the whole three years that the labor contracts are expected to run.”

One might speculate that the business interests themselves were pushing for the publication of such commentary as a way to pressure the dockworkers to concede and end the strike; by highlighting the strain felt by those not directly in the shipping industry and the port as a whole, the strikers might lose credibility and support as a result of (implicitly) being painted as the cause of such unwarranted suffering. However, no primary material has been found to support this possibility.

The Picayune generally appears to have taken a relatively moderate stance when describing the strike generally and the activities of the strikers.

The overall peaceful nature of the general strike is somewhat startling, given the volatility of the relationships between the dockworkers, shippers, and owners. The commitment of the strike leaders to non-violence in their demonstrations and demands is repeatedly and positively reported in the Picayune. Coverage suggests that the insistence on peaceful protest earned the strikers considerable respect and bolstered the credibility of their substantive claims. At the conclusion of the strike, several leading members of the stevedore, shipping, and railroad management interests expressed their views on the “remarkable” nature of a strike where, as one put it, “not a single act of violence having been recorded, and not even a suggestion of lawlessness.” Another added that “the men are to be congratulated upon their attitude throughout the trouble.” This was even more notable in light of the sheer number of strikers: “[e]ven though there were thousands of men involved, there was never the sign of trouble.” Union leaders likewise took care to emphasize their members’ non-violence throughout the strike as a way to build support for – or at least avoid rejection of – their cause. This was reiterated in their statements to the Picayune at the end of the strike, with the Secretary of the Screwmen’s Union and President of the Labor Council stating that “[t]he men made a good fight and through it all kept the peace like law-abiding citizens. They had justice on their side, and early in the difficulty showed the true conciliatory spirit. We have nothing to fear from investigation.” His comments were echoed by the President of the Dock and Cotton Council and by the President of the Longshoremen’s Association, with the latter tying the absence of lawlessness to the overall character of the ordinary working man: “It goes to show that the working man is a respector [sic] of laws, and that he has the interest of the port at heart as much as any one else.”

Ultimately, the strike was settled with two primary terms: (1) a full investigation of the conditions and pay on the docks by a committee of both labor and management, with an “impartial umpire” appointed by the Mayor and the President of the Cotton Exchange; and (2) a return-to-work by the screwmen at the rate of 180 bales per day pending the results of the investigation (after which adjustments might be made). The findings of the investigation committee were to be deemed final.

The aftermath of the strike underlines both the continued solidarity between the black and white dockworkers’ unions as well as the still-existing racial divisions within the shipping interests. As part of the terms of the strike settlement, an investigation into possible abuses and/or misconduct on the docks, both with respect to the validity of the dockworkers’ demands and the conditions of work was launched. Demonstrating the deep-seeded philosophy of half-and-half in all respects between the black and white laborers, dockworkers insisted that the “labor” seats on the investigatory committee be filled with an equal number of black and white representatives. Yet, as the Picayune reported, management not only resisted seating the black labor delegates, but also maintained that they would not allow the investigation to go forward at all if black delegates took part in the process.

-- RitaTrivedi - 28 Nov 2011

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