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The Banana Dock
By PARKER JOHNSTON
I first worked the bananas in the early 50’s. We still had a 9-hour day
and it was a tough job. The stalks were about 4 feet tall, you and your partner
would grab a stalk, get in,
step and off to the gantry that never stopped or broke down.
Every
time you delivered a stalk to the gantry you had to walk a little farther for
the next one. When the ship came in it was cool in the hold, to keep the fruit
from getting ripe. The cold also kept the snakes, spiders and critters from
being active. But as it warmed up they woke up and when they did they were
usually in a bad mood. So we had a lot of sightings and a few bites. After
working a day and a half we must have walked 15 miles, it felt like 25 miles.
The fruit would then go to conveyor
belts
and then to refrigerated rail cars. Every other car would have a gang in it. The
first gang would take every fourth stalk and walk into the rail cars no partner
like in the hold. The next gang would take every third stalk and so on. The last
gang had to take all the stalks and some how the last gang got the biggest
stalks. (Life is not fair) Then in the 60’s the fruit was shipped in boxes.
This made the job faster, but then they cut the manning. (Automation) It was
still hard work with less people. In about the 70’s they went south to L.A.
and the old banana dock became part of Terminal 5 and APL stacks containers
there. That’s what us old timers call the good old days. Actually the good old
days are right now, with that pension check coming in every month.
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ILWU - PMA Benefit Plans Office
Seattle ILWU Pension Club
President
Dick Melton
Vice President
Bob Rogers
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Parker Johnston
Recording Secretary
Pete Collen
Trustees
Bill
Lassiter
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