Abstract
Pete Grimwood was a 50-year-old tankerman and a member of the Inland Boatmen's Union (IBU) San Francisco Bay Region since the early 1980s. Like so many other tankermen—the workers who load and unload petroleum products on barges and ships—he died of cancer from exposure to the noxious fumes at work. The employers continue to get away with not paying for safety equipment and with not being held liable for the workers' early deaths.
Grimwood's story reflects the grim reality of tankermen—the long hours of hard physical work with severe physical, chemical, and biological hazards, decades of stagnant wages and insufficient health care, working for employers who don't care about worker health and safety. His story is also one of human and union struggle for dignity, for better working conditions, and for a better life.
This interview was conducted by fellow IBU tankerman Jeff Quam-Wickham on Dec. 22–23, 1999, just two weeks before Grimwood's death on Jan. 8, 2000. Although his body was wracked by chemotherapy, his optimism, courage, and jocular character still shone through.
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