The Great Hawaiʻi Dock Strike
Fifty years from the day it was settled, Rice & Roses presents a unique look at this pivotal event in the development of the ILWU in Hawaiʻi and also in the development of labor unity necessary for a modern labor movement. The 171 day strike challenged the colonial wage pattern whereby Hawaiʻi workers received significantly lower pay than their West Coast counterparts even though they were working for the same company and doing the same work. With compelling first-hand accounts and dramatizations the program depicts how Hawaiʻi's dock workers suffered "red-baiting" and unrelenting attacks by a powerful alliance between the local media and corporate powers of the day brought back to life in photographs, film footage and the storied accounts of those who lived through it like Ah Quon McElrath, Bud Smyser, Henry Walker, Jr., Mamoru Yamasaki, Senator Inouye and many of the striking longshoremen, including Joe Kahapea, Joe Kahee, Herman Kila, Levi Kealoha.
This has been a small clip of the full video available. For more information about this title and the materials associated with it, please contact the archive.