Vol. 72/No. 20      May 19, 2008

The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipowners, terminal operators, and stevedore companies, opposed the union’s action. A government arbitrator ruled April 30 that a work stoppage would be a contract violation. Dockworkers defied the employers’ and arbitrator’s warnings and brought cargo operations to a standstill.

The work stoppage comes as the ILWU and Pacific Maritime Association are in contract negotiations. The current six-year contract expires July 1.

Here in San Francisco, more than 100 active and retired longshoremen along with several hundred antiwar protestors marched from the union hall to rally at Justin Herman Plaza. The march was led by the spirited ILWU drill team. Speakers at the rally included officials of ILWU locals 10 and 34 Clarence Thomas, Trent Willis, Jack Heyman, and Robert Cavalli, actor Danny Glover, and Cynthia McKinney, Green Party presidential candidate.

Antiwar protests were also held in Seattle, Portland, and Stockton, California.

In a May 1 news release, Robert McEllrath, ILWU international president, took a patriotic and chauvinistic stance in explaining the action.

“Longshore workers are standing down on the job and standing up for America,” he said. “We’re supporting the troops and telling politicians in Washington that it’s time to end the war in Iraq.”

Continuing its nationalist line, the press release notes that the Pacific Maritime Association “consists of large carriers and port operators, most of which are foreign-owned.”

“Big foreign corporations that control global shipping aren’t loyal or accountable to any country,” said McEllrath. “For them it’s all about making money. But longshore workers are different. We’re loyal to America, and we won’t stand by while our country, our troops, and our economy are destroyed by a war that’s bankrupting us to the tune of 3 trillion dollars.”

Last May Day ILWU Local 10 organized a “stop work” action, with the participation of the drill team, in support of actions demanding legalization for all immigrants.

West Coast dockworkers load and unload an average of 10,000 cargo containers a day. According to the American Association of Port Authorities, half of the $5.5 billion worth of goods that move in and out of U.S. ports every day go through West Coast ports. Annual business activity related to the ports is about $1.2 trillion, 10 percent of total U.S. gross domestic product.

“The dock workers shut down the ports in opposition to an imperialist war,” said Lea Sherman, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Congress in California’s 8th District, and a participant in the ILWU May Day action in San Francisco. “This is an example of using our unions to fight for the interests of the whole working class.

“It is along this road that we can forge a labor party based on militant unions,” she said, “a party that will take workers’ struggles into the political arena and challenge the twin parties of the ruling class—the Democrats and Republicans.”

Sherman added, “But what is not in the interests of working people is ‘standing up for America’ and ‘supporting the troops.’ This stance bends to pro-war U.S. patriotism. The troops are not ‘ours’ but those of the billionaire ruling families, even though the majority of the soldiers come from the working class.”  
 
 
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