November 2011
Workers Refuse to Work the Docks
Protesters march on Port of Oakland, Nov. 2, in response to call by Occupy Oakland for “general strike”
over brutal police attack last week. Earlier in the day, workers crippled the port by refusing work.
(Photo: James Fassinger/Guardian [London])
Jack Heyman, a long-time activist in Local 10, told The Internationalist in a phone report:
“This morning, the
membership of ILWU Local 10, in the union’s
best tradition of supporting solidarity
actions, refused to take jobs posted in the
hiring hall. One of the young brothers took
the mike [at the Local 10 union hall]
appealing to longshore workers, men and women,
to refuse to take jobs in solidarity with
Occupy Oakland. The response was
overwhelming.... Most of the skilled jobs had
no takers, so those ships stood idle. This
effectively shut down the port this morning.
Even now, with port officials scrambling to
find workers, the port is barely limping
along. The
What had been announced was a march from 14th and Broadway to the port at 5 p.m., to blockade it. Members of the Local had called to shut down the day shift, which is key. The union officials nixed that. But the ranks refused to go along. Heyman reported:
“This morning, a crowd of
about 3,000 marched to protest banks in
downtown Oakland. There was little organized
collective action by the trade unions, due to
the betrayals of the labor bureaucracy which
is deathly afraid of violating bourgeois
legality. But plenty of rank-and-filers on
their own took the day off. That is important,
but that’s not the power of the working class.
It is the organized sectors, the unions, that
have the power to shut the city down. This
evening I’m expecting a much more militant and
larger contingent, including longshore
workers, to march on the docks and close them
down entirely. There could be trouble, because
once again the police are mobilizing in
force.”
The
mood of West Coast longshore workers also
reflects the battle against employer
union-busting at EGP in Longview, Washington.
As Heyman told a CUNY Internationalist/Class
Struggle Education Workers forum at the CUNY
Graduate Center on October 20th: “the
longshore union is in a fight for its very
life, and this battle may erupt again very
soon.” ■
|
Source: Port of Oakland Running at Half Capacity After Wildcat Strike in Solidarity With Occupy Oakland By Matt
Renner, Truthout | Report
November 2, Update
1:42 PM Pacific - Despite push-back
from union leaders and the management
at the Port of Oakland, rank and file
longshoremen are adamant that many
longshoremen decided not to work today
and disrupted work at the Port of
Oakland today, in solidarity with the
general strike called by the Occupy
Oakland protesters. Richard Washington, a longshoreman who refused work today, told Truthout about his intentions. “This wasn’t ordered or suggested by the union leaders, the rank and file workers decided to not work today in support of Occupy Oakland. I am one of the longshoremen who did not take a job. The majority of the longshoremen at the hiring hall this morning decided not to take jobs. For the most part it was longshoremen walking off in solidarity with the general strike,” adding “tonight, there will be a picket line and I don’t think any longshoremen will cross the picket line.” Update 12:09 PM
Pacific - After a very slow start
because of an apparent wildcat strike
by rank-and-file workers, the Port of
Oakland is apparently back up and
running, though much slower than
normal. Anthony Leviege, a
dockworker at the port says that the
port is currently running “between 40
and 50 percent,” after a slow start
this morning. Leviege said he took to
the microphone at the dispatch hall
this morning to encourage fellow port
workers to take the day off. “I said
‘The world is watching Oakland and
it’s our obligation to be responsible
for the people and the city of
Oakland,’ then I asked them to
do the right thing’,” implying
that workers should take the day off
in support of Occupy Oakland's call
for a general strike. Leviege told
Truthout that the port is now
operational, but running at 40-50
percent capacity because of a
continued labor shortage. He said that
the dispatchers probably called in
other port workers because when he
left the dispatch hall, there were
still about 50 jobs unfilled,
significantly disrupting normal
operations at the port. “This is a success
for the rank and file, given how short
the time frame was. This partial
shutdown was a result of just word of
mouth and a leaflet,” Leviege added. ---
9:25 AM Pacific -
Jack Heyman, a recently retired
business agent for the International
Longshore and Warehouse Union local
10, drove through the Port of Oakland
and called in the following statement
to Truthout at 9:25 AM Pacific time: “The port of
Oakland is effectively shut down. None
of the ships are being worked. There
is limited trucking activity by
non-union workers but the port is
effectively shut down. Trucks waiting
to pick up containers are backed up
over a mile,” Heyman said. The truck
backup was confirmed by the Oakland
Tribune. According to
Heyman, this partial shutdown was
initiated by the rank-and-file workers
at the port, in solidarity with the
call for a general strike by the
Occupy Oakland protesters. The union’s
official position on the strike call
was to work in the morning and then
join the demonstrations in the
evening, but according to Heyman, the
rank and file decided to vote with
their feet and not fill key jobs at
the port this morning. Craig Merrilees,
the spokesman for the Longshore union
at the Port of Oakland told the
Associated Press that no official
strike was called by the union
leadership, and no strike can be
officially sanctioned by the union
under the terms of their contract. He
said that several dozen of the over
300 workers did not show up for work
although many others did. “Rank and filers told people this morning not to take work. Key jobs were not filled but some other jobs were,” Heyman said, resulting in what he described as an “effective shutdown.” “This is an
example of the consciousness of the
San Francisco ports union, which has a
history of solidarity actions with the
global labor movement,” Heyman added. Heyman was in New
York City earlier this week, where he
announced to the Occupy Wall Street
demonstrators that the Port of Oakland
workers would attempt to shut down the
port. The video of this announcement
is here.” |
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