Harry Bridges Institute - About Our Organization

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The Past -
The HBI Read about our history ... how the Institute has grown into a positive, growing force in the Labor Community by clicking HERE.

The Future -
Find out what our leaders project for the years ahead. A discussion of direction, needs and goals...by clicking HERE.

Solidarity. Equality. The Right to Organize.
About the Harry Bridges Institute

The Present
The Harry Bridges Centennial Celebration on July 24 - 29, 2001, was the culmination of seven years of our development. It was both a "coming out party" for the Harry Bridges Institute, and a confirmation of it's founding principles. The response by this community, coast wide and internationally, was overwhelming. We presented a week long series of events that combined struggles in the United States with the struggles of workers internationally. This raised the bar and not only created a strong impact on the Harbor community, but also brought about more unity in the common struggle against injustices to working people everywhere.

Positive Results
A strong statement for progressive trade unionism and social justice was made. The main goal of the Harry Bridges Institute has always been to create a positive culture for labor, and this week and a half of events did more than we have done in the last seven years to reach out to more people with greater impact.

It is important at this time to outline how and why this event took place. The six days of events plus the ILWU International Conference is a summation of the last seven years of our work under different conditions. Today the relationship between the ILWU and the HBI is positive and allowed these events to be successful beyond our wildest imagination.

A Broad Based Appeal
Our approach was to reach out to youth, the labor movement, the community, and struggles for social justice, bringing them all together in a series of common events. Our week-long celebration demonstrated the great strength our working class has in it's diversity.

The celebration started with a Labor Walk that highlighted the various monuments in San Pedro. This gave us the opportunity to present the history of progressive trade unionism (the Harry Bridges Monument), the free speech movement (Liberty Hill), and the sacrifice American workers have made in war and peace time (the Merchant Marine Memorial).

After the Labor Walk, youth and community participants were taken on a boat ride. Almost 500 young people and over 100 adults participated in the cruises on Tuesday, July 24th, and Wednesday, July 25th. The cruises featured not only great views of the Port but also presentations by Greg Mitre (who captained the boat and the IBU crew) and HBI staff pointing out the development of the Port, and the role played by the union and our progressive history.

The boat tours were an overwhelming success, praised by everyone who attended. This was due in part to the fact that we had a four year history with these tours. Clearly, this an area where we need to expand.

We're continuing to add to this section. Check back tomorrow for more...

More about the HBI: Past | Present | Future