The Meier & Frank strikes were a series of labor strikes in the mid 1930s involving workers of the Meier & Frank department stores and members of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the American Federation of Labor (AFL) labor unions. Several attendees of the strikes were injured, by some accounts from the Portland Police Bureau. For several days in August of 1935 there were several employees who walked off the job and picketed the business for failing to recognize their union and demands for higher wages and improved working conditions. The second strike was called on August 12, 1935 by truck drivers for the Northwest Brewing Company, but several organizers were arrested in advance of the strike causing the truckers to abandon their demands. A 1937 strike drew approximately 1,100 people at the Northwest Fifteenth Everett Meier & Frank delivery depot. Workers attempted to block trucks from making their shipments. This pitted two unions, the longshoremen and the teamsters, against each other for the jurisdiction of warehouseman workers.
1935 delivery driver strikes edit
A group of around 50 truck drivers organized a labor strike against their employer, Meier & Frank department store. An upstart teamsters labor union demanded recognition from the company and an improvement to their pay and working conditions. Meier & Frank was initially hostile to demands, but after a 51 day strike both sides came to an agreement and the workers were allowed to return to their routes. At the height of the strike, the Portland Police Bureau assigned approximately 80 officers to the strike area.[1]
A smaller second labor strike was organized by a few drivers for the Northwest Brewing Company who delivered to a Meier & Frank warehouse in Northwest Portland in August 1935. However, several of the strike's organizers were arrested by police after being tipped off to their intentions beforehand. Carl Campbell, Frank Malloy and Julian Curtis were charged with disorderly conduct.[2]
1937 warehouseman dispute and strike edit
References edit
- ^ "51-day walkout ended by drivers; Meier & Frank men make 'satisfactory' terms". The Oregonian. Portland, Oregon. 20 September 1935. p. 1.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Judge postpones hearings". The Oregonian. Portland, Oregon. 13 August 1935. p. 1.
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