According to the union, “On Friday, June 19, 2020, the ILWU Coast Longshore Division will stop work for eight hours on the first shift in 29 West Coast ports from Bellingham, Washington to San Diego, California in observance of Juneteenth. This action follows on the heels of the June 9, 2020 action in which the ILWU Coast Longshore Division stopped work coastwide at 9:00 a.m. for nine minutes in honor of George Floyd, adding to the chorus of voices protesting police brutality and systematic racism.”

The ILWU statement concludes, “As we stop work on Juneteenth, we do so in honor of our African American brothers and sisters and in recognition of the fact that we still have much to achieve as a society in order to carry out the promise of freedom in this country. On Juneteenth, we recommit ourselves to that promise.”

#SanFranciscoCA #Labor #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #InternationalLongshoreWarehouseUnionILWU #Strikes #Juneteenth #workStoppage

“This is a victory for Occupy in their involvement in forcing negotiations. Make no mistake – the solidarity and organization between the Occupy Movement and the Longshoremen won this contract,” said Jack Mulcahy, ILWU officer with Local 8. “The mobilization of the Occupy Movement across the country, particularly in Oakland, Portland, Seattle, and Longview were a critical element in bringing EGT to the bargaining table and forcing a settlement with ILWU local 21.”

“West Coast Occupys had already demonstrated their ability to stage such a blockade by shutting down ports along the West Coast on December 12th, as well as the Port of Oakland on November 2nd,” said Anthony Leviege, ILWU Local 10 in Oakland. The Occupy Movement shut down ports in order to express solidarity with port truckers and Local 21, as well as responding to a nationally-coordinated eviction campaign against Occupy.

Negotiations progressed to the point where Longshore workers began loading the merchant vessel Full Sources on Tuesday. “When any company ruptures jurisdiction it is a threat to the entire union. The union jobs wouldn't be back in Longview if it weren't for Occupy. It's a win for the entire class of workers in the Occupy Movement in demonstrating their organizational skills,” said Leviege.

“It is clear that the port shutdowns on November 2nd and December 12th, and the impending mobilization in Longview, is what made EGT come to the table. When Governor Gregoire intervened a year ago nothing was settled – non-ILWU workers were still working in the port. It wasn't until rank and file and Occupy planned a mass convergence to blockade the ship that EGT suddenly had the impetus to negotiate.” said Clarence Thomas, an officer of ILWU Local 10. “Labor can no longer win victories against the employers without the community. It must include a broad-based Movement. The strategy and tactics employed by the occupy Movement in conjunction with rank and file ILWU members confirm that the past militant traditions of the ILWU are still effective against the employers today.”

EGT itself made evident the company's concern about Occupy's role in the conflict in the January 27 settlement agreement: “The ILWU Entities shall issue a written notice to The Daily News and the general public, including the Occupy Movement, informing them of this settlement and urging them to cease and desist from any actions[...].”

“The Occupy Movement and rank-and-file unionists both within and outside of our ranks have forced the company to settle, but this is not over,” says Jess Kincaid of Occupy Portland. “Occupy doesn't sign contracts. We have not entered into any agreements with EGT, nor do we intend to do so. EGT and its parent company Bunge bribe the government for military escorts, use slave labor in Brazil and systematically avoid contributing anything to our social safety net in the US or abroad. There is no ethic here beyond putting money back in the pocket of the 1% at the cost of working people and the sustainability of the earth.”

“It was the brave action of members of Local 21 blocking the train tracks this past summer that inspired the solidarity of the Occupy Movement up and down the West Coast and around the country. It was not until Occupy joined together with Local 21 and its labor allies that the company returned to the table. Governor Gregoire did nothing but let EGT raid Longshore Jurisdiction until Occupy responded to the call for support,” said Paul Nipper of Occupy Longview.

#LongviewWA #InternationalLongshoreWarehouseUnionILWU #OccupyWallStreet #LongshoreWorkers #ExportGrainTerminalEGT

Oakland, CA – The power of workers to bring production to a halt was on dramatic display April 4, when longshore workers of ILWU Local 10 shut down the ports of Oakland and San Francisco for 24 hours, in solidarity with the heroic struggles in Wisconsin.

The big container port of Oakland was deader than a doornail Monday at 6:00 a.m. I saw a long snake-line of trucks bearing shipping containers idled on the roadway. The shipping cranes were all “standing at attention” – i.e., not working any containers (These are same Port of Oakland cranes that gave George Lucas the idea for some of his “Star Wars” imagery).

The ILWU hiring hall was practically deserted at dispatch time for the night shift, leaving several hundred jobs unfilled. The dock workers stayed away, and no cargo was worked on any shift Monday in Oakland or San Francisco.

The rank-and-file-initiated shutdown was part of nationwide actions on April 4 to challenge the draconian budget cuts and union busting in Wisconsin and other states.

An “organized act of resistance” by rank-and-file dock workers

“This was a voluntary rank and file action – an organized act of resistance,” said Clarence Thomas, a dock worker and Local 10 executive board member.

“It is significant that the action by Local 10 was taken in solidarity with Wisconsin public sector workers who are facing the loss of collective bargaining,” Thomas said. He pointed out that April 4 is also the anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – who was killed in Memphis demanding collective bargaining for sanitation workers in that city.

“So we’ve come full circle,” he concluded. The Memphis public workers got their union, after a two-month strike. Now 40 years later their Wisconsin counterparts are threatened with losing theirs. But it is Wisconsin’s fierce resistance that is inspiring all of us today.”

It is not surprising that the 24-hour port work stoppage came out of International Longshore & Warehouse Union Local 10, a racially diverse, predominantly African American local, and the home local of legendary labor leader Harry Bridges. Martin Luther King was named an honorary member of Local 10, six months before he was killed in 1968.

#OaklandCA #InternationalLongshoreWarehouseUnionILWU #DrMartinLutherKingJr #Wisconsin #PublicSectorUnions #April4 #InternationalLongshoreWarehouseUnionLocal10 #ILWU

Resolution of International Longshore & Warehouse Union Local 10 – Adopted Feb. 15, 2007, San Francisco, California. [This resolution was later adopted by ILWU Local 19, the Longshore local in Seattle, Washington.]

WHEREAS, Local 10 adopted a resolution for our April 2005 Longshore Caucus reclaiming May Day (May 1st) which commemorates the struggle for the 8 (eight) hour work day in the United States;

WHEREAS, Local 10 endorsed May 1st, 2006 and participated in the Great American Boycott to protest the criminalization of immigrant workers by legislation such as HR4437 and the Marine Transportation Security Acts criminal background checks on dock workers;

WHEREAS, On May 1st, 2006, 90% of the container cargo at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach was halted as the result of immigrant truckers not going to work;

WHEREAS, Agribusinesses such as Tyson Foods and Cargill closed down several of their plants in anticipation of immigrant workers not going to work on May 1, 2006 in support of immigrant rights;

WHEREAS, Our own Harry Bridges, an Australian immigrant worker, faced four prosecutions by the U.S. government, was wrongfully convicted, illegally imprisoned, fraudulently stripped of his citizenship, and his attorneys sent to jail for defending him;

WHEREAS, ILWU in 2008, will start very difficult contract negotiations with the employer which requires we start to mobilize our members and build coalitions; and

WHEREAS, Hornblower Cruises has yet to hire skilled and experienced ILWU and other union ferry workers as well as to negotiate a fair contract;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the membership instruct Local 10 s president to convey our intentions of having our stop work meeting on Tuesday, May 1st, 2007 at 9 a.m. to Pacific Maritime Association;

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that Local 10 participates in the Great American Boycott II, in support of workers and immigrant rights, including the workers of Hornblower Cruises, on May Day, 2007 and that the ILWU Local 10 Drill Team perform; and

THEREFORE BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be sent to all ILWU locals, the International, and affiliated central labor councils.

Adopted by International Longshore & Warehouse Union Local 10, February 15, 2007

#SanFranciscoCA #News #MayDay #immigrantRights #internationalWorkersDay #InternationalLongshoreWarehouseUnionILWU

As Fight Back! goes to press, a key battle for the working class is shaping up in West Coast ports. On one side stands the International Longshore Warehouse Union (ILWU), which has mobilized strong support from West Coast labor. On the other side is the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), a coalition of shipping companies. Behind the PMA stand big business and the Bush Administration.

The PMA is looking for trouble. Refusing to negotiate in good faith, they tried to get dockworkers to accept terms that would eliminate and outsource jobs. At the end of September, they closed down the docks and locked out the ILWU.

The stakes are very high. Twenty-nine ports are shut down. A victory for the dockworkers is a victory for all of labor. The 10,500-member ILWU has a progressive history, and it has often had a positive influence on the entire labor movement. The other side of the strike lines is big business, which needs West Coast shipping. It's estimated that the lockout is delaying $1 billion worth of goods each day. A major portion of U.S. exports go through West Coast docks. With 'just in time' production, factories' parts inventories are kept low. As a result, the auto, aerospace and other industries will be hit hard.

Fight for Jobs and Union

While the Pacific Maritime Association says the issue is its desire to apply new technology to the ports, it goes a lot deeper than this. An ILWU statement notes, “The problem is that much of PMA's ideas about technology are actually something else: outsourcing. What does outsourcing mean? Outsourcing means having non-ILWU people perform jobs that were once performed by ILWU workers, jobs that are contractually ILWU work. It also means that jobs that should be performed by ILWU workers are being given to other work forces.”

Examples of outsourcing include having non-union clerks doing data entry in distant places. Or setting up off-dock container facilities, where shipping containers are unloaded.

Acceptance of the PMA proposals would, in effect, set the stage for the slow motion destruction of the ILWU. In industries as diverse as auto and telecommunications, outsourcing has proven to be an effective tool for employers to run away from unions.

The PMA lockout is an attempt to break the power of ILWU. The shipping and port bosses are counting on intervention by the Bush administration to do their dirty work. Specifically, they hope Bush will invoke the Taft Hartley Act – a notorious piece of anti-labor legislation passed at the height of the cold war. The Act allows the government to impose an 80-day cooling off period, during which the docks would be reopened. Strikes are illegal during those 80 days, which coincide with the height of the Christmas shipping season.

Massive Support

Up and down the West Coast, tens of thousands of workers have come together in rallies and marches to back the ILWU. Messages of solidarity have poured in from unions in the U.S. and around the world. Maritime and mining unions in Australia have pledged to organize an international campaign against PMA shipping lines.

ILWU has a proud history of struggle. Led by Harry Bridges, in 1934, its members fought and died to establish the principle that dock workers would be hired through union hiring halls. Due to its militancy and progressive leadership, in 1950, the union was red baited and tossed out of the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations). The union remained outside of the AFL-CIO for 38 years. In 1964, the ILWU became the first major union to oppose the war in Vietnam. In 1999, the ILWU shut down West Coast ports in support of African American political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal.

Act Now!

It is vital that the entire labor movement do everything possible to back the members of ILWU. Big business is waging a war on American workers. The dockworkers are on the front lines, fighting back.

#WestCoast #News #PacificMaritimeAssociation #InternationalLongshoreWarehouseUnionILWU