Archived material Access restricted Article
Rantburg

Today's Front Page   View All of Thu 05/01/2008 View Wed 04/30/2008 View Tue 04/29/2008 View Mon 04/28/2008 View Sun 04/27/2008 View Sat 04/26/2008 View Fri 04/25/2008
1
2008-05-01 Fifth Column
ILWU Strikes West Coast Ports in Anti War Protest
Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.
Posted by tu3031 2008-05-01 13:38|| || Front Page|| [11136 views ]  Top

#1 More...

SAN FRANCISCO -- An arbitrator Wednesday ordered for the second time in a week that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union must tell its members to report for work Thursday despite scheduled protests against the Iraq war along the Pacific Coast, including San Francisco.

During a phone hearing with union representatives and officials with the Pacific Maritime Association this morning, Coast Arbitrator John Kagel announced the order.

According to Kagel's proceedings, he previously ordered the union on April 24 to inform its locals and individual members that they must work a normal day Thursday.

The Maritime Association, who employs the port workers, approached Kagel again because of information that came to light about what the union was reportedly telling its members.

"It was clear to us today that the ILWU is saying one thing and doing another," said association spokesman Steve Getzug.

Despite the fact that the union previously said participating in the protests was voluntary, Getzug said there was "increasing information that the union is telling union members not to show up for work."

But, according to Kagel, "the union maintains that the information received by the employers (the Pacific Maritime Association) is hearsay and thus not to be credited."

"The reason why the Pacific Maritime Association has taken the steps ahead of tomorrow is because any disruption on the water is unacceptable," said Getzug. He added that "thousands of jobs are affected beyond the waterfront."

One of many protests planned for Thursday in California, Oregon and Washington will be in San Francisco, where workers are scheduled to meet at the local union office at 10 a.m. before marching along Embarcadero to Justin Herman Plaza for a noon rally. Scheduled speakers include Danny Glover, Cindy Sheehan and Daniel Ellsberg.

Clarence Thomas, an executive board member of San Francisco-based International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 said, "This is an historic event, the first time in recent memory American workers have stopped work to stop a war."
Posted by tu3031 2008-05-01 13:50||   2008-05-01 13:50|| Front Page Top

#2 Workers with six-digit salaries protesting on May Day. It boggles the mind.
Posted by gromky 2008-05-01 13:53||   2008-05-01 13:53|| Front Page Top

#3 Ah, the good old days return.
Posted by Harry Bridges 2008-05-01 14:03||   2008-05-01 14:03|| Front Page Top

#4 And the union propaganda...

(SAN FRANCISCO, CA) More than 25,000 longshore workers at 29 west coast ports are exercising their First Amendment rights today by taking a day off work and calling for an end to the war in Iraq.

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

McEllrath says rank-and-file members made their own democratic decision in early February when Longshore Caucus delegates voted to take action on May 1. Employers were notified of the plan, but refused to accommodate the union’s request despite plenty of advance notice. The employer group, represented by the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) 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.

Yep. They'll work for nuthin I'll bet. As long as it's for...America.

"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. It’s time to stand up, and we’re doing our part today.”
Posted by tu3031 2008-05-01 14:16||   2008-05-01 14:16|| Front Page Top

#5 Should be reason enough to dissolve the union, or at least the companies' obligation to employ them.
Posted by RWV 2008-05-01 14:24||   2008-05-01 14:24|| Front Page Top

#6 They are committing treason by hampering the war effort deliberately through their actions. Execute all of them, from the dock workers to the Union/Mob bosses.

No mercy for traitors.
Posted by Silentbrick">Silentbrick  2008-05-01 14:38||   2008-05-01 14:38|| Front Page Top

#7 Stop all government contracts to the union and hire only non-union people. Unions are pretty much just communist groups nowdays anyway.
Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader  2008-05-01 15:33||   2008-05-01 15:33|| Front Page Top

#8 Grab the Union leaders and lock 'em up for 50 years. Tell the Longshoremen they work one day without pay for each hour they miss reporting for work. Tell them that anyone establishing a picket line can and will be arrested, and will NEVER be allowed to work the docks again. Hire their replacements and tell the union they can no longer organize the dockworkers. Also inform all and sundry they are paid to work, not to take part in partisan political activity. Foreign policy is the responsibility of the Executive branch, with advise and consent from Congress. Today, everyone wants to be the self-anointed leader. They all need to get a concrete life preserver, taken 10 miles offshore, and allowed to swim back.
Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot  2008-05-01 15:54|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]  2008-05-01 15:54|| Front Page Top

#9 Oh, the hell with that shit. The longshoremen are an anachronism. With the new automated ports, we're talking about what, a couple thousand country-wide? Fire the lot of them, replace them with college hires. Things 'll go slow for a while until the new 'uns train up to speed. How long did it take to replace the air traffic controllers? It's the same class of labor.

And more importantly, the containerized and secured environment means that the longshoremen have lost the leverage they used to hold via monkeywrenching and traditional waterfront thuggishness.
Posted by Mitch H.">Mitch H.  2008-05-01 16:48|| http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/]">[http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/]  2008-05-01 16:48|| Front Page Top

#10 PMA spokesman Steve Getzug said today's actions raised the question of whether this was an attempt to leverage contract negotiations.
DUH!?!
Posted by GK 2008-05-01 17:34||   2008-05-01 17:34|| Front Page Top

#11 This is one of the last of the hard-core Marxist unions, still living in the shadow of Harry Bridges, the Stalinist thug who ran the Bay area longshoremen for many years and to whom the local regime has actually dedicated a plaza.
During WW2, Bridges and his thugs initially opposed lend-lease and did everything possible to disrupt aid to Britain and support Hitler. Once the Soviet Union was attacked, however, they reversed themselves 180 degrees, signing a no-strike pledge and actually loaning their "resources" to help geniunely abusive bosses break strikes outside the industry.

Communist unions allied to Bridges also engaged in widespread sabotage in the early stages and seriously delayed the introduction of the war-winning North American P-51 aircraft.

There is a body of opinion here in Texas that the Trans-Texas Corridor and other overland NAFTA routes are actually aimed at bypassing the obstructionist and disloyal unions who control many American ports, allowing most maritime commerce to go through Mexican ports.

This story certainly lends credence to this view.

Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2008-05-01 17:35||   2008-05-01 17:35|| Front Page Top

#12 At $200K/year/worker, I surprised all container ops aren't automated or completely taken over by H1B visa imports.
Posted by ed 2008-05-01 18:07||   2008-05-01 18:07|| Front Page Top

#13 "monkeywrenching"? Definition, please.
Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife  2008-05-01 18:23||   2008-05-01 18:23|| Front Page Top

#14 Sabotage - classic definition.
Posted by ed 2008-05-01 18:40||   2008-05-01 18:40|| Front Page Top

#15 Thank you, ed. There are so many things I don't know anything about!
Posted by trailing wife ">trailing wife  2008-05-01 19:07||   2008-05-01 19:07|| Front Page Top

#16 Ed's correct - as in "throwing a monkeywrench in the gears"
Posted by Frank G">Frank G  2008-05-01 19:52||   2008-05-01 19:52|| Front Page Top

#17 Sabotage is a term of French origin coined during the railway strike of 1910, when workers destroyed the wooden shoes, or sabots, that held rails in place, thus impeding the morning commute.

-- Wikipedia
Posted by CrazyFool 2008-05-01 20:39||   2008-05-01 20:39|| Front Page Top

#18 Harry Bridges, the Stalinist thug who ran the Bay area longshoremen for many years

Interesting bit of history, AC. Never heard that before. Silly me, I would have thought the dock workers were on our side in WW2.
Posted by SteveS 2008-05-01 22:18||   2008-05-01 22:18|| Front Page Top

#19 SteveS, they were on our side - once Germany invaded the Fatherland.
Posted by Rambler in California">Rambler in California  2008-05-01 22:42||   2008-05-01 22:42|| Front Page Top

#20 All things considered, AMERICA IS PRESENTLY WINNING THAT ASPECT OF THE WOT KNOWN AS WAR FOR MACKINDER'S WORLD ISLAND.

NORTH-SOUTH AMERICAS, etc > AMER CONTINENTS FULL OF FREE TRADE ZONES + TRANS-ZONES, from Arctic to Antarctic.

Assuming, of course, that the World survives the WAR FOR PRO-ANTI US OWG-NWO, VARIOUS WRATHS OF GOD, etc. vv Years 2008-2020.

AND NOW YOU KNOW, VIRGINIA, ONE REASON WHY "FORREST GUMP" IN THE MOVIE RAN BACK AND FORTH ACROSS AMERICA [Song - "Running on Empty"].
Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-05-01 23:31||   2008-05-01 23:31|| Front Page Top

#21 WASHINGTON TIMES OP-ED > THE END OF FEDERALISM, as a reminder of the covert dangers to America and US-Western Dmeocracy in this man's WOT.
Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-05-01 23:34||   2008-05-01 23:34|| Front Page Top

#22 WAFF.com > RUSSIA TO GET EIGHT NEW BE-200 AMPHIBIOUS PLANES [firefighting]; + AE 142 BACK IN SERIES PRODUCTION [from 2007].

SIgnificance here is that as OWG FREE = SPECIAL ZONES are de facto established, MAJOR PORTS IN CONUS-NORAM, CENTAMER, + SOUTAM will prob set up AIR + OFFSHORE CORRIDORS = SECURITY ZONES COMPLETE WID HI-TECH WMD DETECTION SYSTEMS + REMOTE PLATFORMS CAPABLE OF QUICKLY EFFEC SCANNING WHOLE PLANES AND SHIPS, INDIVID ANDOR IN GROUP "TRAINS", WID MINIMAL LEAD TIME.

Russ "DUAL USE" Ampibs planes, HVACS, etc. may had finally found a peacetime utility-niche as per OWG Trade??? RECENT NET NEWS ABOUT THE US DHS DESIRING TO GET AMER's MILLIONS OF BOATERS INVOL IN NATIONAL SECURITY POINTS/HINTS TOWARD THE ABOVE DIRECTION.
Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-05-01 23:57||   2008-05-01 23:57|| Front Page Top

23:57 JosephMendiola
23:52 RD
23:52 Slappy
23:36 Alaska Paul
23:34 JosephMendiola
23:31 JosephMendiola
23:15 JosephMendiola
23:06 Anonymoose
22:54 Rambler in California
22:48 eltoroverde
22:42 Rambler in California
22:28 SteveS
22:28 eltoroverde
22:18 SteveS
21:58 Frank G
21:57 Frank G
21:47 Mike
21:28 Steve White
21:23 Angie Schultz
20:52 CrazyFool
20:39 CrazyFool
20:13 Rambler in California
20:12 Frank G
20:02 Frank G









Paypal:
Google
Search WWW Search rantburg.com