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Collection is open for research.
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[Identification of item], International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 70 Records, 1987/070, 1990/079, 1991/004, 1991/009, 1991/113, Labor Archives & Research Center, San Francisco State University.
These records were donated in three batches by International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 70, of Alameda County, California, in 1987, 1990, and 1991. The collection was processed in spring 1999 by Joshua Paddison.
International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 70, of Oakland, California, was chartered in 1901.
In the first decade of the twentieth century, the East Bay lagged behind San Francisco in
population (Oakland, Berkeley, and Alameda combined had less than 100,000 residents in 1900
while San Francisco boasted three-and-a-half times that) and organized labor activity. Many East
Bay laborers commuted to San Francisco each morning or were scattered in small, hard-to-organize
industries. Moreover, Oakland lacked San Francisco's tradition of union militancy and its
cadre of experienced labor leaders. East Bay unions were typically smaller, less organized, and
less likely to strike than their San Francisco counterparts.
In 1901, Local 70 joined with Local 85 and other Bay Area Teamster locals in organizing a
central organization called the Team Drivers Joint Executive Council.
From 1920 to 1949, Local 70 was led by its dynamic and controversial secretary-treasurer,
Charles W. Real (1888-1966). Born in San Francisco, Real was active in East Bay unionism and
politics for virtually all of his adult life; he was a longtime member of the Oakland Civil Service
Commission and chairman of the Alameda County Labor Committee for Earl Warren's
gubernatorial campaign of 1942 and Thomas Dewey's presidential campaign of 1948.
Real was a tireless promoter of Local 70's interests. Frustrated at Local 70's second-class status
behind powerful Local 85 within Joint Council 7, in 1935 Real gave his support to a plan,
opposed by Local 85, to organize Bay Area highway delivery drivers. As a result, Local 70 gained
several hundred new members.
In July 1934, Local 70 joined dozens of other unions up and down the Pacific coast in a sympathy
strike after the events of "Bloody Thursday" in San Francisco. During the strike, Local 70
continued to help city and county officials supply food desperately needed to the East Bay.
In 1937, Local 70 joined approximately 150 other Teamster locals in eleven western states to
form the Western Conference of Teamsters, led by Seattle Teamster Dave Beck. The creation of
this multi-jurisdictional regional body, unprecedented in Teamster history, significantly shifted the
balance of Teamster power westward; Beck himself rose to become president of the International
Brotherhood of Teamsters in 1952.
In April 1937, Beck placed Local 70 in trusteeship for one year after Oakland Teamsters refused
to cross the picket lines of longshoremen led by Harry Bridges. The trusteeship suspended Local
70's right of self-rule, ousted several officers, canceled all regular union meetings, and placed an
outside agent (appointed by Beck) in temporary control. Beck then ordered Local 70 to break
Bridges's strike. However, more than 500 of Local 70's 2200 members met secretly to vow
allegiance to the ousted officers and to promise to honor the longshoremen's picket lines. On May
2, Beck himself spoke at a mass meeting for Oakland Teamsters where he garnered their
compliance in return for $1 per day wage increases. Local 70 thereafter ignored the Bridges's
picket lines, sparking a long-standing rivalry between Bay Area Teamsters and longshoremen
(soon part of a larger "holy war" between the A.F.L and the C.I.O.)
Local 70 initiated three lengthy strikes in the early 1960s. Seeking higher wages and better fringe
benefits, Local 70 went on strike in July 1961 against members of the Lumber and Mill
Employers' Association and four ready-mixed concrete companies. The dispute was resolved in
late September.
Also in September 1961, Local 70 joined Teamsters Locals 896 (bottlers) and 278 (drivers) in a strike against several soft drink bottlers in San Francisco, Alameda, and San Mateo counties. In response, four soft drink companies purchased newspaper, radio, and newspaper advertisements to recruit strikebreakers in what the
In November 1962, Local 70 initiated a wildcat strike against Consolidated Freightways after the
company fired two Teamsters for refusing to unload a non-union trailer. The dispute, which lasted
for almost a month, was particularly bitter; Consolidated Freightways fired all 126 of the striking
union members and obtained a restraining order to stop their picketing. The dispute went before
arbitrator Arthur M. Ross in December. "The ringleaders are dismissed while the followers are
reinstated," he decided, reinstating (with unimpaired seniority but without back pay) the jobs of all
but five of the striking Teamsters.
In May 1964, Teamster Local 291, representing construction, excavation, ready-mix, and lumber drivers, split from Local 70.
The files of Teamsters Local 70 are divided into four series: Teamsters Local 70, Teamsters Local 515 (Oakland chauffeurs' union), International Brotherhood of Teamsters material, and non-Teamsters material.
The series "Local 70" comprises eleven subseries: minutes, monthly financial reports, office correspondence, membership information, election material, dispatchers' logs, contracts and agreements, print material, and
The collection's contracts and agreements are divided by industry and arranged alphabetically. When an industry has required more than one folder, each folder title indicates the alphabetical span of companies contained within. For example:
Local 70 Contracts and Agreements--Oil Companies (Associated Oil - Johnson Oil) 1938-1949
This folder contains all of Local 70's contracts and agreements with oil companies that fall alphabetically between Associated Oil and Johnson Oil.
The folder's inclusive dates (1938-1949, in this case) indicate the beginning and ending dates of the contracts within. If, for example, a contract with Johnson Oil was agreed upon in 1938 and was in effect until 1949, 1938-1949 is the date listed (rather than simply 1938).
The majority of the material in the collection dates from 1937 to 1958. Many of the minutes, financial reports, and office correspondence in the collection came from the files of William J. "Big Bill" Conboy (1889-1964), Local 70's International Representative during the 1950s.
The earliest items in the collection are dispatcher's logs from 1916 to 1920. Other early material includes an "East Bay Drayage Tariff and Shopper's Guide" from 1924 and Teamsters Local 515 membership ledgers from 1925 to 1927.
The most recent items in the collection are election materials and contract and agreement booklets from the late 1980s.
Included in the collection are issues from 1963 to 1968 of Local 70's newsletter,