Goldblatt, Louis

Louis Goldblatt was a prominent labor organizer in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout the Pacific Coast. In 1937, he helped organize the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU), serving as secretary-treasurer of the ILWU from 1938 to 1977. He also served as secretary-treasurer of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) from 1938 to 1942. Although he did not actively participate in the San Francisco hotel strikes of 1937 and 1941-1942, he spoke before mass audiences of striking culinary workers in 1941.

Labor leader.

Biographical Information

Louis Goldblatt was a prominent labor organizer in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout the Pacific Coast for over five decades. Born in the Bronx and educated at the University of California, Berkeley, Goldblatt began his labor career in 1936 as a San Francisco warehouse union organizer. A close associate of Harry Bridges, he helped organize the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (ILWU) the following year. From 1938 to 1977, Goldblatt served as secretary-treasurer of the ILWU. At the same time, he was active in the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), serving as secretary-treasurer of the California State Industrial Union Council from 1938 to 1942. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Goldblatt helped organize workers in California and Hawaii across racial and industrial lines. Although he did not actively participate in the San Francisco hotel strikes of 1937 and 1941-1942, Goldblatt spoke before mass audiences of striking culinary workers in 1941. He died in 1983.

Lucille Kendall was a member and officer of the Hotel & Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, she conducted interviews of participants in the San Francisco culinary strikes of 1937, 1941-1942, and 1980 for the California Historical Society.