[Marxism] Union ¹ s War Protest Shuts West Coast Ports

[Bonnie Weinstein]

Union¹s War Protest Shuts West Coast Ports
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
May 2, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/02/us/02port.html?ref=us

SEATTLE ‹ West Coast ports were shut down on Thursday as thousands of
longshoremen failed to report for work, part of what their union leaders
said was a one-day, one-shift protest against the war in Iraq.

Cranes and forklifts stood still from Seattle to San Diego, and ships were
stalled at sea as workers held rallies up and down the coast to blame the
war for distracting public attention and money from domestic needs like
health care and education.

³We¹re loyal to America, and we won¹t stand by while our country, our troops
and our economy are being destroyed by a war that¹s bankrupting us to the
tune of $3 trillion,² the president of the International Longshore and
Warehouse Union, Bob McEllrath, said in a written statement. ³It¹s time to
stand up, and we¹re doing our part today.²

About 25,000 union members are employed at 29 West Coast ports, but the
protest took place only during the day shift. A spokesman for the main West
Coast employers¹ group, the Pacific Maritime Association, said it appeared
that about 6,000 workers did not show up for work, which meant that about
10,000 containers would not be loaded or unloaded from about 30 cargo ships.

The spokesman, Steve Getzug, cast the action as a strike and therefore a
violation of the union¹s labor contract, which is up for renewal this
summer.

³What the union says and what the union does are two different things,² Mr.
Getzug said. ³This is genuine defiance.²

Union leaders said that the association had rejected their request weeks ago
for Thursday¹s one-shift work stoppage, but that local longshoremen
continued to promote the protest. It went forward, the union leaders said,
despite a demand on Wednesday by an independent arbitrator that they
instruct members to go to work.

In many cases, dock workers were joined at port entrances or at rallies by
other groups protesting the war or frustrated by economic issues or
immigration policies. Some rallies seemed as much like street fairs as angry
acts of resistance, with booksellers setting up stands and supporters of the
presidential candidate Ralph Nader carrying banners.

On the Seattle waterfront, members of the United Auto Workers and the
Service Employees International Union mixed with self-described socialists
while many of the scores of police officers on the scene ate box lunches and
petted their horses.

In Oakland, Calif., some truckers who said they were angry about high gas
prices decided not to cross picket lines at the port.

³I got here ready to haul,² said César Lara, 41, a resident of Richmond,
Calif., born in Zacatecas, Mexico. ³They told me it was a picket but if I
wanted to go in I could. But I¹m supporting them and to end the war.²

Several drivers said truckers were planning their own nationwide work
stoppage in the next several days to protest record-high gas prices and
surcharges.

In Long Beach, Calif., part of nation¹s largest port complex, truck drivers
from California and neighboring states waited for the port security gates to
reopen on Thursday evening, when union members said they planned to return
to work. Nearby, in Wilmington, longshoremen met inside a hall while some
union members outside read pink fliers stating the reasons for work
stoppage.

Kevin Schroeder, director of Local 13¹s political action committee, said,
³The children of middle-class people are over there dying, so we decided to
do something. We are fortunate enough to be in an organization that has a
platform to do something.²

Rebecca Cathcart contributed reporting from Long Beach, Calif., and Carolyn
Marshall from Oakland, Calif.