San Francisco Pier 19 during Local 10’s boycott of apartheid South Africa. Photo courtesy of Larry and Candice Wright, former members of the Liberation Support Movement. Source: Jacobin

Peter Cole writes for Jacobin,

On November 24, 1984, the Dutch cargo ship Nedlloyd Kimberley docked at San Francisco’s Pier 80 loaded with goods from South Africa and other countries. Rather than do their job, the dockworkers — proud members of Local 10 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) — refused to touch the South African auto parts, steel, and wine after they unloaded the rest of the ship’s cargo. For the next ten days, the union dispatched members to this pier who continued refusing to unload the South African products, essentially striking against apartheid. Each day, hundreds of other workers and community members provided support for these workers.

“ILWU and the Anti-Apartheid Struggle” by Blanco and Peter Cole. A Justseeds Celebrate People’s History Poster. Source: Justseeds

As Working Class History notes, the month prior to the strike,

[L]ocal 10 had shown an anti-apartheid film at a union meeting, after which members passed a motion to boycott the next arrival of South African cargo. Workers went without their pay to continue their boycott for a total of 11 days, until a federal court injunction to do it, under the threat of fines and prison.

The dockworkers 1984 anti-apartheid actions were not their first attempts to stand up against the racist system of power that was in place in South Africa. As Peter Cole describes at Found SF, ILWU workers refused to unload South African goods in 1962, and again in 1976 and 1977. Cole writes,

Local 10’s actions truly had national reach, perhaps never more so than when the U.S. Congress, shepherded by [Ron] Dellums, overrode President Reagan’s veto in 1986 to enact governmental sanctions on South Africa.

Additional Resources

How American Dockworkers Fought Apartheid in South Africa by Peter Cole (Jacobin)

Bay Area Longshore Workers Fought Against Apartheid by Peter Cole (Found SF)

This Union Is Famous for Opposing South African Apartheid. Now It’s Standing With Gaza by Workday staff and Sarah Lazare (Workday Magazine)

The ILWU Defends Its Proud Tradition by Jack Heyman (IWW website)

Watch a video about the anti-apartheid strike below.