Germain Bulcke

Germain (Jerry) Bulcke was born in Belgium and moved to the United States as a child. He began working on the waterfront in the 1920's when the union was company controlled (known as the "blue book" union).{{Cite book |url=https://digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu/record/217543?ln=en&v=pdf |title=Germain Bulcke: Longshore Leader and IlWU-PMA Arbitrator |date=1984 |publisher=Regional Oral History Office |editor-last=Bulcke |editor-first=Germain |location=Berkeley, CA |editor-last2=Ward |editor-first2=Estolv Ethan}}{{Cite journal |last=Cherny |first=Robert W. |date=1995 |title=The Making of a Labor Radical: Harry Bridges, 1901-1934 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3641006 |journal=Pacific Historical Review |volume=64 |issue=3 |pages=363–388 |doi=10.2307/3641006 |issn=0030-8684 |jstor=3641006|url-access=subscription }} During the 1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike, Bulcke served as a picket captain and witnessed the murders of longshore workers Nick Bordoise and Howard Sperry by police that became the impetus for the San Francisco General Strike. Bulcke also recounted that he carried another worker who had been wounded in the shootout to safety.{{Cite book |last=Kimeldorf |first=Howard |title=Reds or rackets? the making of radical and conservative unions on the waterfront |date=1988 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-06308-2 |location=Berkeley}}{{Citation |last=Howard Kimeldorf |title=Germain Bulcke - Howard Kimeldorf Oral History Project - Oral History Audio |date=1981-09-04 |url=http://archive.org/details/BulckeGermain_HKOHP |access-date=2024-04-05}}

File:Germaine Bulcke Speech 1939 Edit Trim.jpg members on the importance of labor unity, 1939]]

After the 1934 strike, Bulcke rose to prominence in the union. Though never a member of the Communist Party, Bulcke aligned himself with Harry Bridges and the left wing of the union and was often involved in factional fights. In the 1930s, he protested the Reichstag Fire that led to the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany and opposed US involvement in World War II until 1941. He was also active in the Harry Bridges Defense Committee during Bridges' deportation trials.

In 1939, Bulcke was appointed to the California Fish and Game Commission by governor Culbert Olson,{{cite news |title=Fish and Game trio appointed |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MT19390915.2.38&srpos=6&e=-------en--20--1-byDA-txt-txIN-%22Germaine+Bulcke%22+%22fish+and+game%22----1939--- |access-date=20 April 2025 |work=Madera Tribune |date=15 September 1939 |location=Madera}} serving until 1944.{{cite news |title=Game Post Should Be Filled |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=AGVHR19440107.1.6&srpos=2&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Germain+Bulcke%22----1944--- |access-date=20 April 2025 |work=Arroyo Grande Valley Herald Recorder |date=7 January 1944 |location=Arroyo Grande}} Olson had previously tried to appoint him to the San Francisco Harbor Commission, but the nomination was rejected by the State Senate.{{cite news |title=Senate bans appointment |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=NJ19390307.1.1&srpos=6&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN-%22Germain+Bulcke%22+%22harbor+commission%22----1939--- |access-date=20 April 2025 |work=Napa Journal |date=7 March 1939 |location=Napa}} During the 1940 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Bulcke joined a left-wing slate pledged to lieutenant governor Ellis E. Patterson for president.{{cite news |title=Notice Lists 5 Slates For May 7 Vote |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/997869159/?terms=%22Ellis%20E.%20Patterson%22&match=1 |access-date=15 May 2025 |work=Santa Barbara News-Press |date=9 April 1940 |location=Santa Barbara}} They opposed incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt on the grounds he was focusing too much on foreign affairs and not enough on domestic unemployment.{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=Robert E. |title=Olson's New Deal for California |date=1953 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |pages=141–142 |url=https://archive.org/details/olsonsnewdealfor0000robe/page/141/mode/1up |access-date=21 April 2025}} The Patterson slate lost to Roosevelt's by a margin of fifteen to one.{{cite book |last=Peek |first=Paul |authorlink=Paul Peek (politician) |title=Statement of Vote at Presidential Primary Election held on May 7, 1940 in the State of California |publisher=California State Printing Office |location=Sacramento |pages=4–5, 40–41 |url=https://archive.org/details/stateofcaliforn194050cali/page/n9/mode/1up |access-date=15 May 2025}} Bulcke later supported former vice president Henry A. Wallace in the 1948 presidential election, serving as chairman of the San Francisco County Progressive Central Committee{{cite journal |title=1948— CHAIRMEN, INDEPENDENT PROGRESSIVE COUNTRY CENTRAL COMMITTEES |journal=San Francisco City-County Record |date=October 1948 |volume=15 |issue=10 |page=38 |url=https://archive.org/details/sanfranciscocity1315sanf/page/n737/mode/1up |access-date=20 April 2025}} and as a candidate for presidential elector.{{cite book |last=Jordan |first=Frank M. |authorlink=Frank M. Jordan |title=State of California Statement of Vote, General Election November 2, 1948 |publisher=State Printing Office |location=Sacramento |page=5 |url=https://archive.org/details/stateofcaliforn194050cali/page/n410/mode/1up |access-date=20 April 2025}}

In 1938, Bulcke was elected president of ILWU Local 10 (San Francisco Bay Area).{{cite journal |last1=Schmidt |first1=Henry |title=Germaine Bulcke New Longshore President |journal=The Voice of the Federation |date=6 October 1938 |volume=4 |issue=18 |page=8 |url=https://archive.ilwu.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/19381006.pdf |access-date=20 April 2025}} He served as president for most of the 1940s, including during World War II. In 1947, he was elected international vice president (also known as second vice president),{{cite journal |title=Caucus Stands in Tribute to Bulcke |journal=The Dispatcher |date=21 October 1960 |volume=18 |issue=22 |page=8 |url=https://archive.ilwu.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/19601021.pdf |access-date=20 April 2025}} which he held until 1960.{{Cite book |last=Education |first=United States Congress House Committee on |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lr0cAQAAMAAJ&dq=germain+bulcke&pg=PA1362 |title=Hearings |date=1949 |isbn=978-0-88192-588-3 |language=en}}{{Citation |last=Regional Oral History Office |title=Germain Bulcke: Longshore Leader and IlWU-PMA Arbitrator |date=1983 |url=http://archive.org/details/cabeuroh_000261 |access-date=2024-04-05}} In 1960, Bulcke became the ILWU-PMA arbitrator for southern California. He held this position until his retirement in 1966.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bOJz3DT5OeUC&dq=germain+bulcke&pg=RA23-PA42 |title=Records and Briefs of the United States Supreme Court |date=1832 |language=en}}{{Citation |last=Cole |first=Peter |title=Dockworkers in America |date=2017-08-22 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History |url=https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-467 |access-date=2024-04-05 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.467 |isbn=978-0-19-932917-5|url-access=subscription }}

{{reflist}}

• {{Citation |last=Howard Kimeldorf |title=Germain Bulcke - Howard Kimeldorf Oral History Project - Oral History Audio |date=1981-09-04 |url=http://archive.org/details/BulckeGermain_HKOHP |doi=10.6069/zqbk-yz39}}
• [https://californiarevealed.org/do/4d2c393e-de66-40ea-aaec-83ce06917894 Germain Bulcke: Longshore Leader and ILWU-PMA Arbitrator]. Interviewed by Estolv Ethan Ward. At the Oral History Center, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulcke, Germain}}

Category:Year of birth missing

Category:Year of death missing

Category:Belgian emigrants to the United States

Category:Activists from San Francisco

Category:Trade unionists from California

Category:International Longshore and Warehouse Union people

Category:Culbert Olson administration personnel

Category:Culbert Olson political appointees