Archives West Finding Aid

Correspondence, minutes, negotiations, agreements, and related papers of this large union representing several dozen local units. Includes records of three main predecessor organizations: United Fishermen's Union of the Pacific Puget Sound District; International Fishermen and Allied Workers of America. Pacific District. Local 3.; and the main body of the accession, the Longshoremen's Union records.

Commonly recurring series within this collection are Minutes (for Locals, Executive Boards, Conferences and Conventions), Working and Price Agreements, Financial Records, and Organizational Features. There was a great deal of redundant information within Working Agreements with the only discernable difference between several copies of these multi-page forms being whose signature can be found at the end of each. Working Agreements for fishermen were between a Union and and Owner/Captain of a specific ship on behalf of a Union member. Fish Price Agreements set a minimum price per pound for buyers of fish. These agreements also contain additional documentation of the agreements including related correspondence, meeting minutes, and other material. Financial records contain the ledgers and reports of the unions as well as tax and welfare records for individual members. Forms and lists with Social Security Numbers were copied, the numbers were redacted, and the old forms were destroyed.

Potential items of interest include folder 3/33. Cannery and Fishpacking Companies. It contains lists of employees at Puget Sound Fishpacking and Cannery plants. Agreements with Fishpackers and Canneries are unusual among UFU working agreements in this collection, as are extent lists of employees. More unusual is that they contain lists of employees at several Puget Sound Canneries, many of whom are women. Folder 5/16 Correspondence Dealing With Application for Charter with the International Seamen Union (1935-1936) details efforts by the Salmon Purse Seinser's Union of the Pacific to become affiliated with the International Seamen's Union of America. The Secretary-Treasurer of the Purse Seiner's Union wrote out to many westcoast fishermen's union asking why their application was being withheld. This shows many of the unions that the Salmon Purse Seiners corresponded with. The IFAWA Local #3, MEMBERSHIP LISTS in folders 6/9-16 folders includes member names, addresses, book numbers, and ages of members. Additionally, folders 6/13, 15 contain lists of fishing vessels and the members who worked aboard them. SUBJECT SERIES-NORTHWEST SHOREWORKERS COUNCIL (1946-1950 in folders 7/3-6includes material on Taft-Hartley legislation such as Union declarations and correspondence with congressmen. ASSORTED INTEROFFICE FILES (1946-1950) in folders 7/10,32 include a report with a maps of the "Geographical Distribution of Locals on the Pacific Coast and Territory of Alaska of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Unions." This could be useful contextual information. It also includes petitions for President Truman to ban and Atomic and Hydrogen bombs. Folder 8/21: Assorted (1950) contains a working agreement written in Spanish. The series on IFAW PRICE NEGOTIATIONS (1948-1950) Documents the price negotiations surrounding the fall 1949 IFAWA strike. Folder 10/15 concerns the strike itself, which was represented a new tactic of directly confronting and picketing packers. A series of REPORTS (1949-1978)in folders 16/22-24, 17/15 illustrates international labor relations and the state of west commercial fishing.