Rumors have been flying that longshore workers are going to stop
work May 1 to call for the immediate, safe return of U.S. troops
in Iraq.
At its Feb. 8 meeting, the longshore caucus of the International
Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) debated and adopted a resolution
calling for an eight-hour stop-work meeting May 1 at ports in California,
Oregon, and Washington, at which members would have a chance to
speak out in opposition to the war.
ILWU represents 25,000 dock workers at ports on the West Coast and
in Hawaii and Alaska. Caucus delegates are democratically elected
representatives from every longshore local who set policy for the
Longshore Division.
Under the ILWU contract with the employer group, the Pacific Maritime
Association (PMA), the union is allowed to call mandatory-attendance
union meetings on the second shift, and work stops so all members
from all shifts can attend. That’s a right that’s pretty
much unique in the American labor movement. But to call a meeting
for the first shift, during the day, requires the PMA to sign off
on it. And the PMA wasn’t interested in protesting the war.
In fact, they make money shipping war material.
So ILWU’s official position is that it is no longer coordinating
a day shift stop-work action on May 1. That doesn’t rule out
activists in some locations from taking some kind of action; it
just won’t have the official sanction of the union.
