The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) is a North American labor union representing longshore workers along the East Coast of the United States and Canada, the Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes, Puerto Rico, and inland waterways. The ILA has approximately 200 local affiliates in port cities in these areas. Origins In 1864, the first modern longshoremen's union was formed in the port of New York. It was called the Longshoremen's Union Protective Association (LUPA). While longshoremen in the United States had organized and conducted strikes before there was a United States, the ILA traces its origins to a union of longshoremen on the Great Lakes: the Association of Lumber Handlers founded in 1877, then renamed the National Longshoremen's Association of the United States, in 1892. It joined the American Federation of Labor in 1895 and renamed itself the International Longshoremen's Association several years later, when it admitted Canadian longshoremen to membership. Organized and led by an Irish tugboat worker named Daniel Keefe, the organization had as many as 100,000 members on the Great Lakes, the East Coast, the West Coast and the Gulf Coast in 1905. From the outset, Keefe faced significant challenges, most notably the outright hostility to unions of Chicago's influential industrialists and the traditional anti-union leanings of longshore recruits from small Midwestern towns. Nevertheless, Keefe successfully expanded membership in the newborn union to include large numbers of dockworkers. In 1892, delegates from eleven ports convened in Detroit where they adopted the by-laws of the Longshoremen's Chicago local and the name National Longshoremen's Association of The United States. By 1895, the name was changed to International Longshoremen's Association to reflect the growing numbers of Canadian members. Shortly thereafter, the ILA affiliated with the American Federation of Labor (AFL). As the start of the 20th century loomed, the ILA had approximately 50,000 members, almost all on the Great Lakes. By 1905, membership had doubled to 100,000, half of which were scattered throughout the rest of the country. ILA leaders focused on eliminating independent stevedoring firms and securing closed shop contracts. Keefe bargained with employers, guaranteeing uninterrupted work in return for badly needed improvements in working conditions and wage increases. Daniel Keefe retired as President of the ILA in 1908, succeeded by another Great Lakes tugboat man, T.V. O'Connor. O'Connor's presidency spanned twelve of the ILA's most intriguing and influential years. In 1909, a bitter three-year strike on the Great Lakes