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Jerry
Tyler, a
Seattle Longshoreman
to be Remembered
JERRY
TYLER was first and foremost of, by, and for the longshoremen and the ILWU in
Seattle. He always felt union organization was the answer to the bosses' attempt
to keep wages down, accidents up and unions out. He had a spirit that seemed
to say,
"we're
all in this together, so let's work together to keep a good thing going."
In
that spirit he always gave credit where it was due and always recognized the
worth of each individual he met, on the waterfront or elsewhere. When
you worked alongside Jerry, you felt the need and strength of working together
for the common good.
Jerry died April 23 from a double whammy heart attack. Thus ended a working
class life that included many jobs from lightweight boxing as a teenager to the
Great Depression's search for jobs, including to Washington State apple
orchards, restaurant jobs up and down the pacific Coast.
The war came along and he shipped out of marine Cooks and Stewards hall
on a mess job and was introduced to the value and strength of unionism,
later, he became an organizer for the Cannery Workers union, Secretary of
the Seattle CIO council, did a radio program for the Council, heard that Local
19 was signing a new "manpower pool", known as "poolies"
joined up and retired after 25 years. Jerry's story is like a lot of the average
longshore
worker of that period. Going through the Great Depression, working at many different jobs
and ending up on the waterfront with a damned good paying job, benefits,
pensions and a strong left wing union.
Jerry's
talent for writing will be long remembered by his introducing us to "Steve-Adoree" a fictitious
longshoreman he portrayed in THE HOOK, a predecessor to the RUSTY HOOK.
THE HOOK was
started in Local 19 as an educational tool for the membership.
It was
popular and served a good purpose as attested by its popularity.
We hope the
RUSTY HOOK, published by the Pension Club of 19 does the same.
Interestingly,
RUSTY HOOK, unlike its predecessor, has subscribers in the local PMA and the
port of Seattle, both of whom have supported
it financially.
With
globalization, international "free" trade pacts such as the Central
America Free Trade Agreement, CAFTA, the possibility of a major pacific Coast
Port in Baja California (offshoring longshore jobs!), threats of pension cuts in
industry as a whole and the negative international trade balance with countries
such as China, Japan and India, we do not have a secure future.
So, as Tyler
would have advised, we better stick to the union. It
is our only hope for some kind of future in a world that seems bound by
profits, anti-unionism and Bushism.
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