September, Labor Day, and the dedication of Harry Bridges Plaza at the foot of San Francisco’s Market Street: three good reasons to show up on a Saturday morning in August and watch the goings-on from the corner of Mission and the Embarcadero.
The colorful insignia of Longshoremen on proud display.
Published: September, 2001
September, Labor Day, and the dedication of Harry Bridges Plaza at the foot of San Francisco’s Market Street: three good reasons to show up on a Saturday morning in August and watch the goings-on from the corner of Mission and the Embarcadero
My perch is the sidewalk in front of the Audiffred Building. An historic marker set in the concrete by the front door tells us that the famed labor leader kept his office on the second floor, and that it was from here that he directed the famous Longshoremen’s General Strike that culminated in Bloody Thursday and the securing of labor rights for waterfront workers.
The marker also tells us that the Audiffred Building was the only structure in this part of town to survive the fires the engulfed the area in the wake of the 1906 Earthquake. Apparently, the buildings’ owners offered the firefighters battling the blazes a firehouse full of liquor if they could save the building. They did.
The old....….and the new. A key breakthrough in the General Strike was Harry Bridges’ outreach to the African-American community. At a time when victory for labor was not at all a sure thing – the press and most of the rest of the community’s establishment was foursquare opposed to Bridges – he toured African-American churches promising support by labor for civil rights if blacks would stand by the Longshoremen in their hour of need. They did and he did.
