In 1954 Astley, who was now working as a sawmill "dogger," was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee when hearings were held in Seattle. Astley maintained that his Canwell Committee experience was a direct cause of his firing, along with the fact that he participated in student organizations that were critical of the committee. The university claimed that there was no correlation between his refusal to cooperate with the committee a month earlier and his dismissal from his job. The cause of his dismissal is controversial. Shortly after, Astley was fired from his counseling position at UW. Called to testify before the Canwell Committee in 1948 on charges that he was a communist, Astley refused to answer any of its questions.
World War II veteran administering an Army program that provided correspondence courses for overseas personnel, later a creer counselor for veterans at the University of Washington. Allen was also involved in a gender discrimination grievance and lawsuit by Linda Nyland against the Local 23 and the Pacific Martime Association (the employers' organization).Īllen later retired from ILWU 23 and remains living in Tacoma. Allen also became an internal advocate for union militancy and policing of the contract and working conditions filing and assisting other members in filing grievances. Eventually, these transfers from Portland and San Francisco began to reform Local 23's internal political culture, winning offices as the local's president, vice president, on the Longshore Relations Committee, as walking bosses, as clerks, and as crane operators-all positions of esteem and influence in the local. Later, Allen used the ILWU transfer program to transfer to the growing port of Tacoma, where he became a member of ILWU, Local 23.ĭuring his time in Tacoma's Local 23, Allen formed a coalition with other transferred longshoremen from the Portland local (ILWU Local 8), and advocated reforms in the union's handling of the dispatch system and the qualification for the test necessary to become a crane operator-a coveted job. During this period, Allen worked in various different ports on the Pacific Coast, incluing Los Angeles, Portland, and Tacoma. While at ILWU Local 10, Allen also served on the Promotions Commitee. During that strike, he served as a picket captain.
Allen was one of the original people to go to work at SeaLand as a supplement prior to the 1971 Pacific Coast Longshore Strike. Later in his career there, Allen moved into crane work.
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The ILWU created the new hiring category in San Francisco-"B" men worked irregularly and had the dirtiest jobs, with the promise of promotion to "A" status after a year of work, and were not considered full union members until that time. In 1959, Allen came onto the "B List" in San Francisco, working as a winch driver. Selected resources and research tips for labor history researchers and those interested in ethnic, social, local, political, and women's history.Īl Allen grew up in San Francisco, Califronia, and entered a career as a longshoreman in International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, Local 10 (San Francisco). Also included are records of employers, some of which were the collective bargaining partners-and sometimes opponents-of unions. Records from organizations that supported organized labor, worker's rights, and civil rights and also records from labor critics and opponents. Labor leaders, attorneys, arbitrators, and rank-and-file workers, and labor rights supporters have donated their personal papers. Many unions have made the Labor Archives the official repository for their historical records - minutes, office correspondence, membership files, publications and contracts. The Labor Archives contains more than 300 separate collections of labor related materials from individuals and organizations documenting the local, national and international dimensions of the labor movement in the Pacific Northwest. For more information about LAW visit the website. The Labor Archives of Washington (LAW) was founded to preserve the records of working people and their unions and to serve as a center for historical research, ensuring that new generations have access to the rich labor history of the region.