"minnesotan" played a part in several labor difficulties in the interwar years. in march 1935, the crew of "minnesotan" called a wildcat strike that delayed the ship's sailing from los angeles by a day, but ended the strike after they were ordered back to work by their union. in october 1935, the deckhands and firemen of "minnesotan" and fellow hawaiian-american ships "nevadan" and "golden tide" walked out—this time with the sanction of their union, the sailors' union of the pacific (sup)—after american-hawaiian had suspended a member of the international seamen's union. in that same month, "minnesotan"s deck engineer, otto blaczinsky, was murdered while the ship was in los angeles harbor. the industrial association of san francisco, an organization of anti-union businessmen and employers, believed that blaczinsky was killed because he opposed union policies, and offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of blaczinsky's killer. threats of another pacific coast strike in late 1936 caused west coast shippers to squeeze as much cargo as possible into "minnesotan" and other ships; when "minnesotan" arrived at boston in october, "the christian science monitor" reported that the ship had arrived "literally laden to her plimsoll line".