History

--Roots of 
the ILA

--The Dawn 
of Unionism

--First 
Longshoremen's
Union

--ILA
Beginnings

--Early Threats
To Unionism

--Realism 
and Caution

--The Haymarket
Riot

--Creation of
the ILA

--Affiliation with
AFL-CIO

--Fighting
Communism
and racism

--ILA arrives in
New York

--ILA absorbs
LUPA

--Gangland
Myths

--Wagner Act

--Pacific Coast
Split

--ILA Accused
of Gangsterism

--Teddy Gleason
Fights to Save
the ILA

Teddy Gleason

--Elected President
of the ILA

--ILA in the
Present

Early Threats to Unions

Big Business Exploits Racial Strife
Union Breaking 

The late 19^th century was a time of great economic upheaval which saw periods of alomost full employment and union expansion followed by depression, lower wages, and intense competition for jobs. There were bitter divisions among the Irish immigrants and their "non-white" counterparts ("non-white" is the derogatory term then used to refer to Italian and Southern Mediterranean immigrants). These divisions were to some extent esacerbated and often exploited by big business seeking to turn the unions against themselves. Various unions, such as LUPA and the Knights of Labor, competed with one another, and weak labor leadership was unable to resist increasingly powerful and invincible big business. 

Unions were broken. LUPA was disbanded before the turn of the century.  But the survivors fought back. There were countless wildcat and/or organized work stoppages resulting in violence and massive losses in wages. Between 1881 and 1905 there were more than 30,000 strikes.

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