Defend Occupy Oakland With The Muscle Of Organized Labor-Statement Of ILWU Members & Reti

Defend Occupy Oakland With The Muscle Of Organized Labor-Statement Of ILWU Members & Retirees

DEFEND OCCUPY OAKLAND WITH THE MUSCLE OF ORGANIZED LABOR

Demonstrators in downtown Oakland
protesting the bank-driven economic
crisis were brutally attacked by police
from 18 Bay Area agencies on Tuesday
Oct. 25. Mayor Quan, who was
supported by ILWU Local 10 in the
recent elections, ordered this bloody
assault. Cops used potentially lethal
weapons to break up the occupation of
Frank Ogawa (now renamed Oscar
Grant) Plaza just as they did in the port
against anti-war protesters in 2003.
That police attack was even criticized
by the UN Human Rights Commission
and ended up costing Oakland over $2
million in civil suits.

Then-Local 10 longshoreman Billy
Kepo’o was hit in the hand by a police
tear gas canister causing a bloody mess. Now, Iraqi war vet, Scott Olsen, was hit in the head with a
police projectile, causing a fracture and putting him in critical condition in Highland Hospital. This is
exactly what killed one of the strikers in Seattle in the Big Strike of 1934. That history of police
violence against strikers is why our Local 10 Constitution bans cops from membership in our union.

Last year, Local 10 shutdown all ports to protest the police killing of young Oscar Grant. This year
ILWU has been supporting Occupy Wall Street. Just last Monday the San Francisco Labor Council
declared the Occupy San Francisco and Occupy Wall Street “sanctioned union strike lines” offering the
protesters an umbrella of union protection.

ILWU is under attack from PMA employers, not just here in the port of Oakland but especially in
Longview, Washington. Our jobs and the survival of the ILWU as a fighting union are at stake. We
heard the report of our Longview Local 21 brothers at our union meeting last week and we pledged our
solidarity, just as we did for other unions under attack, whether in Charleston, South Carolina or
Madison, Wisconsin.

At the same time there is an outrage at the bankers and the capitalist crisis which has caused massive
hardship on the working class. Occupy Oakland protesters have called for a General Strike on November
2. Whether this actually means real strike action by workers depends in large part on union participation.
Local 10 has always been in the lead in the labor movement and all eyes are on us. As a first step, in
defending our union and others against economic and political repression, we need to mobilize our
members to participate in the rally and occupation November 2 in Oscar Grant Plaza. Shut it down!

October 28, 2011

Anthony Leviege #9576, Ronnie Armour #9922, Troy Bell #9837, Tremaine Waters #9202, Richard
Washington #9402, Anthony Manning #9986, Odis Rucker #9811, Robert Grissom #101284, Jack
Heyman #8780 (ret.), Samantha Levens (S.F. IBU), Robert Irminger (S.F. IBU), Howard Keylor
#220447 (ret.), Clarence Thomas #8718