International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union

The International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU) is a labor union founded in 1937 by Harry Bridges, who led it until 1977. Bridges, an Australian-born American labor leader, was instrumental in organizing dockworkers and later expanded the union's reach to Hawaiian sugar and pineapple workers. The ILWU has a significant history in Hawaii, where it once held considerable influence, particularly after a major dock strike in 1949 that impacted the island's economy. While the union's membership and influence have waned in Hawaii with the decline of traditional industries, it played a crucial role in labor relations and politics in the region. The ILWU was affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) but was expelled in 1950 during a purge of allegedly communist-dominated unions.12