A contract dispute between the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), representing shipping and stevedoring employers, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), representing 10,500 West Coast dockworkers, arose in July 2002 and resulted in PMA's closure of all 29 ports on the West Coast. Beginning September 27, 2002, workers were locked out for 11 days, the first major work stoppage on western docks since the 1971 longshore workers strike.
In this image, taken about a week before the lock out, dockworkers and other union members rally outside the Seattle offices of Stevedoring Services of America (formerly Bellingham Stevedoring Company). Here, members of the Sailors Union of the Pacific (SUP), the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association (M.E.B.A.), the American Guild of Musical Artists (A.G.M.A.), and the Seattle Musicians Association Local 76-493 show their support.
Caption information source: "Shippers see dockworker slowdown," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 19, 2002, page 33. Caption information source: "Employers lock out longshore workers at West Coast ports on September 27, 2002," by Kit Oldham, HistoryLink.org Essay 8692.
Additional Information: Metadata created as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
Credit: MOHAI, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection, 2000.107.20020918.CD01.01.002, photo by Meryl Schenker
