"1933 will be the beginning of a new year,'' the lead article in its first issue said, "and of a new agreement on the 'Frisco' waterfront. It has been decreed that wages will be 75 cents an hour -- a 10c wage cut. Coming at the time of the festive season, this wagecut is a regular Christmas present to the shipowners." The next issue reported that the same wage cut had been imposed in the northwest ports and in San Pedro. "Sheer necessity,'' Plant said later.

Longshoremen "had to" make their yuletide gift because, the paper said,

the Blue Book union had betrayed them. But what can be done about it? ... Some of us have got together, whats to prevent others from doing the same. If you ask this question of your partner the answer will be "Open your mouth and you will get blacklisted." We know this. Its nothing new. Whats to prevent us from organizing small undercover groups of those whom we know on each dock. This is the only way we can lay the basis of a real union and protect ourselves as individuals.

In its February issue the Waterfront Worker said it intended to fight: 'l. For a deep cut in the new working rules. 2. For more men in a gang. 3. For a real fight against further wage-cuts." And it urged again that longshoremen organize small groups to take the lead in dock action against grievances. Its goals were limited and defensive, only a distant approximation, as it turned out, of workers' expectations, far short of the trade union program it would later support.