Who We Are:
We are members of the Industrial Workers of the World who work in the maritime industry. Our organization is open to all workers engaged in marine transportation and all workers on docks and in terminals, including sailors, deckhands, marine firemen, engineers, cooks, longshoremen, shipclerks, vessel planners, janitors, office workers, and everybody who works for a marine industry employer in any capacity.
Our goal is to build unity between all workers in maritime, regardless of our occupation, seniority, card level, union membership, or what other unions we belong to. We aim to assist and complement other unions efforts to defend workers' rights, to take action where they can't due to anti-union laws, to organize the unorganized, to educate workers as to their rights, and to defend the gains of workers in our industry that were won over a century of struggle.
We believe that we must build strong ties to workers engaged in building and repairing ships, boats, and small harbor craft, and all drydock workers who are eligible to organize into Ship Builders Industrial Union 320 of the IWW.
Waterfront and seafaring workers are under a viscious, sustained attack by the bosses in the shipping and ship building industry that can only be overcome by building one big union of all workers in the industry.
Contact Us
- Phone: (510) 459-6586
- email: intexile [at] iww.org
Email List
IWW Members working in this industry are encouraged and invited to join the email list for Industrial Department 500 at dept500@lists.iww.org
We believe in the following Statement of Principles which can best be summarized as follows:
- That all maritime workers belong in one big union;
- That it is in the best interests of workers in all existing maritime unions to work together to build cross-industry solidarity;
- That all marine transport union locals should be based on direct rank & file democracy. One member = One Vote!
- That there should be no class division within unions. All members should have the same rights and responsibilities.
No union worker should ever:
(1) supply a job on strike with goods or services;
(2) Handle any scab goods;
(3) Consume scab goods;
(4) Ever cross a picket line of striking workers or locked out workers;
(5) Ever do the work that would have been done by striking or locked out workers; and
(6) If any government uses troops and/or mass arrests to suppress unions then no union work should be done. GENERAL STRIKE!
If you believe this as well, you should Join the IWW and help us build one big union on the waterfront and at sea.
- Station Bill - Safety on the Waterfront and at Sea.
- The Wharf - Dockers, Stevedores, and Longshore
- Class Struggle on the West Coast Docks - The ILWU / PMA Contract Dispute of 2002
- Neptune Jade - Worldwide Solidarity Beats the Shipping Bosses (1997-98).
- Sea Diamond - Solidarity with Kaiser Aluminum Workers and Earth First! (1998)
- The Shipyard - Resources for Ship Builders Industrial Union 320.
- The JeffBoat Wildcat Strike of 2001 - Inspired by IWW Members!
- Yardbird Blues - 20 Years of a Wobbly in the Maritime Industry, by Arthur J. Miller - Includes information on FOC ships.
- Ship's Library - History & Information for Marine Transport Workers.
- The Liberty Hill Strike of 1923 - an IWW uprising in the port of San Pedro California (incomplete).
- The Wilhelmshavener Revolt - Germany 1918-19.
Please Note - Even if there isn't a corresponding link for each industrial union, there may still be a functioning Industrial Union Organizing Committee. Please see our list of IWW Branches for more information.
If you cannot find an IWW branch in your industry or community, We will help you start an IWW branch if none currently exists.
This section also includes information on how to recruit new members, how to hold and run successful meetings, and how to deal with sensitive issues, such as diversity and burnout.
