As gargantuan a wartime phenomenon as the West Coast shipyards is their union: the alphabetically unpronounceable International Brotherhood of Boiler Makers, Iron Ship Builders, Welders & Helpers of America. Almost overnight World War II has made it one of the largest, probably the richest, certainly the most glamorous union en the war-busy West Coast.
Big. When the shipyards sprang up, everybody expected Harry Bridges' C.I.O. longshoremen's union to move in. But the A.F. of L.'s boilermakers got there first. Boilermakers are no longer boilermakers; the union includes welders, shipfitters, hook tenders, caulkers, riggers,...
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