Longshoremen Strike May 1 to End Iraq and Arghan War - West Coast

[autorank]

Finally, maybe this will stir things up. California, Oregon, and Seattle ports shutting down for a day will create real notice. We should all join in!

CalTrade Report March 14, 2008

Letter from ILWU to AFL-CIO

ILWU Calls For May 1 Dock Walkout

US West Coast action called to protest ''imperialist'' war in Iraq, Afghanistan

LOS ANGELES – 03/14/08 – The International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) has said the 40,000-plus members of its 60 locals in California, Washington and Oregon will walk off the job for eight hours on May 1 to protest the US-led war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The decision to go ahead with the walkout was communicated to the AFL-CIO and Change to Win – two national labor organizations representing most US union workers – in a letter from ILWU president, Robert McEllrath.

The ILWU, he said, would also be calling for a “wider international action” in support of the walkout.

SNIP

Employers and port authorities at 29 sea ports from San Diego to Seattle have been notified with the work stoppage scheduled for the day shift. Ports in Hawaii and Canada will not be affected, McEllrath said.
ILWU Local 10 Notice


The Resolution by the International Longshore & Warehouse Union
http://tinyurl.com/35apbp

The following resolution was adopted by the ILWU at its Pacific Coast Longshore Caucus:
ILWU resolution: For Workers’ Action to Stop the War

WHEREAS: On May 1, 2003, at the ILWU Convention in San Francisco resolutions were passed calling for an end to the war and occupation in Iraq; and

WHEREAS: ILWU took the lead among labor unions in opposing this bloody war and occupation for imperial domination; and

WHEREAS: Many unions and the overwhelming majority of the American people now oppose this bipartisan and unjustifiable war in Iraq and Afghanistan but the two major political parties, Democrats and Republicans continue to fund the war; and

WHEREAS: Millions worldwide have marched and demonstrated against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but have been unable to stop the wars; and

WHEREAS: ILWU’s historic dock actions, 1) like the refusal of Local 10 longshoremen to load bombs for the military dictatorship in Chile in 1978 and military cargo to the Salvadoran military dictatorship in 1981; and 2) the honoring of the Teachers Union antiwar picket May 19, 2007 against SSA in the port of Oakland — stand as a limited but shining example of how to oppose these wars; and

WHEREAS: The spread of war in the Middle East is threatened with U.S. air strikes in Iran or possible military intervention in Syria or the destabilized Pakistan; therefore be it

RESOLVED: That it is time to take labor’s protest to a more powerful level of struggle by calling on unions and working people in the U.S. and internationally to mobilize for a “No Peace, No Work Holiday” May 1, 2008 for 8 hours to demand an immediate end to the war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Middle East; and further be it

RESOLVED: That a clarion call from the ILWU be sent with an urgent appeal for unity of action to the AFL-CIO, the Change to Win Coalition and all of the international labor organizations to which we are affiliated to bring an end to this bloody war once and for all. — Adopted by the ILWU Longshore Caucus, meeting in San Francisco, California, February 8, 2008


San Francisco Letter Carriers on May Day and the War

RESOLVED: That Branch 214 of the National Association of Letter Carriers, representing 2,700 letter carriers in the San Francisco Bay Area, request that carriers in all carrier stations observe 2 minutes of silence at 8:15 AM on May Day — May 1st, 2008 — in honor of International Workers Day and in solidarity with the ILWU longshore workers’ action in stopping work in all West Coast ports for 8 hours on May Day, to express our opposition to the war in Iraq.

— Adopted by NALC Branch 214, meeting in San Francisco March 5, 2008, by unanimous vote.