Longshore workers gather in San Pedro to honor fallen brethren

About 200 people gathered in San Pedro on Sunday, May 15, to honor dockworkers who have died on the job at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach since the longshore union’s founding in the 1930s.

This year’s International Longshore and Warehouse Union “First Blood” memorial ceremony recognized Chulaih Ang, 64, of Carson, who was fatally struck by a vehicle near a container terminal at the Port of Long Beach earlier this year. He was the most-recent worker killed on the job and became the 70th name on a memorial plaque honoring those who have died.

The vehicle his Ang in mid-afternoon on Jan. 15 in the 300 block of Mediterranean Way.

Greg Mitre, president of the ILWU’s Pensioners, which sponsors the ceremony each year, and Ramon Ponce De Leon, president of ILWU’s Local 13, led the service at the bust of Harry Bridges in the greenbelt along Harbor Boulevard. Bridges is the union’s founder.

The greenbelt also includes the memorial plaque.

Among those who attended the ceremony were 22 family members of Jose Santoyo, a union mechanic who was killed in 2019.