Forgot your password?
New user?
Peace?
Peace Walk "From Hiroshima / Nagasaki to Hope"
Document Actions
Activists and Dock Workers Shut Oakland Port Down
ILWU Local 10 says no to war, and shuts down the Port of Oakland, refusing to ship material for Bush's War.
ILWU workers at the port of Oakland
Anti-war activists and dockworkers shut the Port of Oakland down May 20th. The picket line protested the war profiteering of shipping companies and the port, demanding that funds be shifted from the war to schools. Along with anti-war activists, members of the Oakland Education Association held signs with the words “honor the line.” No cargo moved; three ships were left idle for consecutive shifts.
This historic occasion marked the first job action of U.S. labor against war in decades. It takes a higher consciousness of workers to put themselves on the line for reasons beyond immediate self-interest. In fact, members of ILWU local 10 were directly hit in the pocketbook for their action. The picket began at 7 AM and by evening, an arbitrator ruled that it was not a bona fide “health and safety” issue. Although ordered back to work, the dockworkers collectively refused. Picket line organizer Jonathan Nack explained, “It's very important to understand that the union members knew they were risking losing their pay. Yet member after member told me that there is no way they that they would cross the picket line.” That’s solidarity.
The collective strength of labor has hindered and halted other imperial adventures, but it’s been awhile since we’ve seen this kind of American Solidarity. Local 10 executive board member Jack Heyman was quoted as saying, “I think the message is loud and clear… If longshoremen at the Port of Oakland can honor picket lines against the war in Iraq, then they can do that in other ports. And this will be the beginning of the end of the war.” Politicians got us into the current war, but it’s going to take working people and soldiers to get us out.
One day maybe we’ll even see longshore workers Tacoma join their union brothers in Oakland to take a principled stand against the war. With Ft. Lewis being one of the primary platforms of the Iraq War and the rise of Port Militarization Resistance protests, Local 23’s commitment to solidarity be tested soon enough. Keep the troops home - honor the line!