Twenty Years of Moving Cargo: Local 1814 20th Anniversary Publication 1954 - 1974
Local 1814, International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO commemorated their 20th anniversary in 1974 with a publication celebrating their accomplishments and with a positive outlook for the future. Higher wages, job security, health coverage, a credit union and legal representation for job disputes are some of the achievements that then union President, Anthony Scotto touted.
"Believing that the span of two decades marks a milestone in a life of an institution, the executive board of Local 1814 directed the news and research department to record, in print and photo, some highlights from those twenty years. The board members believe, too, that those longshoremen who were in at the begining will enjoy reviewing the progress they've made and that the newer members will benefit by learning something of where their local has come from and where it is going"
Local 1814, International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO
Unfortunately for the union’s longshoremen, the promise of 500 new longshore jobs and 2,000 maritime related jobs created by a new Red Hook containerport never came to fruition.
A Message from the President of Local 1814
"Local 1814 was established 20 years ago to fight poverty on the Brooklyn waterfront. Times were hard. The parent union was on its own, outside the house of labor. Earnings were low. Two or three men shaped every job. Longshoremen were scattered all over Brooklyn, isolated from one another in a half-dozen, small, weak local unions.
Divided, exploited and insecure they were; demoralized they were not. A core group of the most determined gradually formed around Anthony Anastasio, the late, beloved leader of the Brooklyn waterfront.
Success came on June 30, 1954 when the International Longshoremen’s Association issued a charter to Local 1814, thereby replacing the discord of many weak voices with the unity and strength of one.
And thus over the past two decades have we climbed from total job insecurity to a guaranteed annual income … from being the receivers of only emergency medical or dental care to our own full-service health center … from being rejected everywhere as “bad credit risks” to our own Federal credit union and to a money-saving group auto insurance plan … from standing alone before the Waterfront Commission to our own Legal Aid Plan which provides free-to-member legal representation before the commission … from dreams of education to a college scholarship competition for our sons and daughters … from word-of-mouth communication to our own news and research department … from the possibility of a lonely old age to a community senior citizens center, shared of course with our nonlongshore neighbors.
Brooklyn longshoremen are thankful for the benefits of the past 20 years; we look forward with confidence to the next 20. Inspired by the example set by 1814’s pioneers, we move forward into the automated age, forging an ever-stronger local union and contributing a full measure to our parent union, the International Longshoremen’s Association, American Federation of Labor and Congress on Industrial Organizations.
Anthony Scotto"
