N. Longshore Worker's Hall/ Shamrock Laundry

Category: Sites from the 'Labour, Work and Working People' booklet

Longshoremen established their first union in 1888 and were the second group of workers to organize in Vancouver ( see site 9).

On June 8, 1935, striking longshoremen began a march to Ballantyne Pier from this hall (see site Q). Locked out on June 4 for refusing to handle “hot cargo,” the men marched to publicize work, safety, and organizational issues. Their protests was also against the Shipping Federation’s attempt the break the union by establishing the company- controlled Canada West Waterfront Workers’ Association.

Over the 1,000 demonstrators gathered and proceeded in an orderly fashion to Alexander Street. When they arrived at the first set of railway tracks at the bottom of Heatley Street, they met a force of 125 city police and RCMP officers who were armed with regulation guns as well as two Lewis machine guns borrowed from the Provincial Armory. The day of violence, later called ``Bloody Sunday,`` saw 128 people injured. By the end of the year, the strike and union were both crushed.