Today in Labor History July 20, 1934: Seattle police fired tear gas and clubbed 2,000 striking longshoremen during the West Coast port strike. Meanwhile, the governor of Oregon called out the National Guard to break the strike on the Portland docks. By the end of the strike, all the West Coast ports had become unionized. 1 worker died in Seattle and another died in Portland. And 2 in San Francisco. The San Francisco deaths led to a General Strike