Labor’s response to globalization was on the minds of a couple hundred ILWU members and supporters as they rallied at the longshore Local 10 hall Oct. 10.

Local 34 retiree Asher Harer.

They gathered to hear fellow workers from across oceans and generations link the longshore struggle to its history and to its future as part of an international labor movement. Supporters from maritime labor hung out with veterans of the Battle of Seattle, who mingled with veterans of the 1948 longshore strike and the 1980s battles against South African apartheid.

Björn Borg, president of the Swedish dockworkers’ union (Svenska Hamnarbetarförbundt) and European Zone Coordinator for the International Dockworkers Council, spoke of the growing global unity of transport workers brought on by the PMA lockout. Two of the people arrested that morning for “locking out” the PMA shared the podium (see story, this page). Juliette Beck, from Public Citizen, commended the ILWU for all it has done for social change and justice in the world. Karen Pickett, from the Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment, spoke of her morning’s adventures and added, “We have common ground because of the corporate mind set that sees the resources of the natural world as their own personal smorgasbord, and sees labor as their own personal waiters at that smorgasbord,” Pickett said. “We say no to that mindset, we say no to corporate exploitation of workers and the corporate exploitation of the environment.”

Local 10 Secretary-Treasurer Clarence Thomas reported on his trip to France, where he informed the French workers of the ILWU’s struggle. 

“The day after I left Paris there were 80,000 French workers in the streets of Paris to protest privatization, and I submit to you we may very well have to do that here,” Thomas said. “From coast to coast we have to get the message out, because this is about corporate greed, this is about the elimination of organized labor, this is about the loss of our civil liberties. We have to wake up.”

Local 10 President Richard Mead outlined the meddling role in negotiations played by the U.S. government and major retailers represented by the West Coast Waterfront Coalition. While this has slowed down bargaining, it also points to the much larger issue of class struggle. 

“It’s bigger than the ILWU and PMA,” Mead said. “It’s international capital verses international solidarity. That’s who the ILWU has behind it, and we’re going to prevail.” 

Asher Harer, Local 34 retiree and veteran of the 1948 strike, also spoke. Younger members gathered around Asher after the event. While frail in body, his spirit is as strong as ever. He recited one of his favorite poems, Shelley’s “Rosalind and Helen,” published in 1819:

“Fear not the tyrants shall rule for ever, Or the priests of the bloody faith; They stand on the brink of that mighty river, Whose waves they have tainted with death; It is fed from the depths of a thousand dells, Around them it foams, and rages, and swells, And their swords and their sceptres I floating see, Like wrecks in the surge of eternity.”

Activists turn the tables on PMA

By Tom Price Assistant Editor, The Dispatcher 

SAN FRANCISCO—Executives of the Pacific Maritime Assn. got a dose of their own medicine Oct. 10 when they arrived at work and found themselves locked out. A group of social justice activists had arrived early that morning and chained themselves to the front doors of PMA headquarters at 550 California St.

The suits failed to share the demonstrators sense of irony as they leaned out their car windows and gaped like beached fish at the banner hung above the entrance. Some could be heard angrily ordering their drivers to use the garage entrance, which is where demonstrators directed the company’s workers.

“Bush makes PMA rich; Workers get the Taft,” the 120-square foot banner read.

Meanwhile the protestors literally held fast. Four people locked themselves to the door handles with chains and bicycle locks, while two more sat down in the revolving door. The participants were identified as members of social and environmental justice organizations in leaflets handed to the press.

“PMA locked the union out, now we’re locking out the PMA,” the Activists turn the tables on PMA pickets said in a prepared statement. “We stand in solidarity with the ILWU workers and we stand in opposition to PMA’s back-door politicking with the Bush administration to strip workers of their collective bargaining rights.”

Police officers responding to the scene barely concealed their amusement. They had to call the fire department to get bolt cutters large enough to remove the bike locks. All this took quite a while, long enough in fact for the bosses to see the banner announcing their own personal lockout.

Public Citizen, founded by Ralph Nader, advocates fair trade and has recently launched a major drive against water privatization. Two of its members, Juliette Beck and Mike Dolan, played prominent roles in the 1999 shutdown of the WTO in Seattle. Police arrested them along with other veterans of the Battle of Seattle Kevin Danaher of Public Citizen, Karen Pickett of the Alliance for Sustainable Jobs and the Environment, and Randy Hayes of the Rainforest Action Network. They were released quickly after a brief ride to the station in the paddy wagon. 

“It’s clear that the PMA is using new technology jobs as an opportunity to hire non-union employees and bust the union,” Pickett said. “Lowtech or high-tech, all jobs should be union.”

Lockout at 550 California Street, PMA headquarters.