Union=B9s War Protest Shuts West Coast ****ts
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
May 2, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/02/us/02****t.html?ref=3Dus
SEATTLE ? West Coast ****ts were shut down on Thursday as thousands of
longshoremen failed to re****t for work, part of what their union
leaders
said was a one-day, one-****ft protest against the war in Iraq.
Cranes and forklifts stood still from Seattle to San Diego, and ****ps
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.
=B3We=B9re loyal to America, and we won=B9t stand by while our country,
our
troops
and our economy are being destroyed by a war that=B9s bankrupting us to
the
tune of $3 trillion,=B2 the president of the International Longshore and
Warehouse Union, Bob McEllrath, said in a written statement. =B3It=B9s
time to
stand up, and we=B9re doing our part today.=B2
About 25,000 union members are employed at 29 West Coast ****ts, but
the
protest took place only during the day ****ft. A spokesman for the main
West
Coast employers=B9 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
****ps.
The spokesman, Steve Getzug, cast the action as a strike and therefore
a
violation of the union=B9s labor contract, which is up for renewal this
summer.
=B3What the union says and what the union does are two different
things,=B2 Mr.
Getzug said. =B3This is genuine defiance.=B2
Union leaders said that the association had rejected their request
weeks ago
for Thursday=B9s one-****ft 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 ****t 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 sup****ters
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 ****t.
=B3I got here ready to haul,=B2 said C=E9sar Lara, 41, a resident of
Richmond,
Calif., born in Zacatecas, Mexico. =B3They told me it was a picket but
if I
wanted to go in I could. But I=B9m sup****ting them and to end the war.=B2
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 nation=B9s largest ****t complex, truck
drivers
from California and neighboring states waited for the ****t 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 13=B9s political action committee,
said,
=B3The 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.=B2
Rebecca Cathcart contributed re****ting from Long Beach, Calif., and
Carolyn
Marshall from Oakland, Calif.
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