Archives West Finding Aid

Richard Gurtiza is a Filipino American labor union activist and union officer originally from Wapato, Washington. Gurtiza is president of Region 37, Inlandboatman's Union of the Pacific, the marine division of the International Longshre and Warehouse Union. The union represents Alaska cannery workers, who from the 1930s onwards were largely Filipino Americans and Asian Americans. Gurtiza became a member of Local 37 in 1977 and became Regional Director of the IBU 1993.

Gurtiza was born in the small farming community of Wapato, Washington in the 1950s. Gurtiza was a founder of the local chapter of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), an American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations constituency organization for Asian American and Pacific Islander labor union members. Gurtiza was also on the national Executive Board of APALA

In the late 1970s, Gurtiza was part of a rank and file reform movement of activist Local 37 cannery workers to reform the union and fight for better working conditions. Gurtiza worked with Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes—the leaders of the Alaska Cannery Workers Association—to build the reform movement. After Domingo and Viernes were murdered in 1981, Gurtiza and other reformers won leadership positions and transformed Local 37.

Gurtiza remains active in the IBU/ILWU, the King County Labor Council, and the Washington State Labor Council.