Letter from Jack Heyman, ILWU Local 10, San Francisco:

Longshore Union to Shut Down Port
On March 20 to Protest War on Iraq

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

The San Francisco longshore union voted at our last membership meeting to hold a "stop work" meeting on March 20th to protest the war in Iraq. We will demand an end to the war, an end to the occupation and the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops now!

This is not a "strike." We are implementing a provision within our contract that permits us to stop work once a month for a "stop work" meeting. We are trying to organize all ports on the U.S. West Coast to take the same action as Local 10. If they decide to follow our lead, it will send a powerful working class message to the warmongers in Washington that we don't support imperial wars like the one in Iraq.

We used this same tactic successfully in 1999 to shut down West Coast ports to demand freedom for framed black political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. Longshoremen in Los Angeles last month used their "stop work" meeting to mobilize support for the striking grocery workers in Southern California.

We hope this action by U.S. longshore workers will help put an end to the needless slaughter in Iraq.

In solidarity,

Jack Heyman,
ILWU Local 10