By The Red Hook WaterStories team
On Saturday March 14, 1885, workers at Finlay's Stores were told that they hourly rate would be cut to 20 cents an hour, down from twenty-five. They refused to work for less pay and the company replaced them with about fifty Swedes and Norwegians....
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Synopsis of interview with Heidi Benedikt, former crew member of the MARY A. WHALEN. Recording times in parenthesis are aproximate. Go to bottom of the page to hear the full interview (0:10) The delegate of the union convinced me...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Mariners and those in the shipbuilding trades demanded higher wages and better benefits, in the years following WWII. In 1947, thousands who worked at the Todd Shipyard in Red Hook, Brooklyn went on strike. They were not alone. 67,000 workers,...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Alf Dyrland was Captain of the MARY A. WHALEN from her rechristening in 1958 until 1978 when he retired. He was her first captain; she was his last boat. Alf loved the MARY deeply. As he lay dying in 1996, what he said out loud...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
The Atlantic Basin Iron Works office and large work shops were located at Imlay, Summit, Van Brunt, and Bowne Streets. They did all sorts of repairs a ship might need including on steamship and diesel motors. Publications from the 1920s list the key...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Labor strikes by shipyard workers, maritime workers, and many others were common in the years following WWII. In 1949, The Brooklyn Eagle reported on a union walkout at the Todd Shipyard in Erie Basin, after eight riggers were fired for refusing...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
The tugboat strike in the Winter of 1946 brought NYC to a standstill. The workers were unhappy with their wages, and felt that since WWII was over they deserved an increase. The tugboat owners did not agree. 3500 workers went on strike on February...
