Portworkers Solidarity Rally--Wed. 7/24

The Bush administration and the world’s largest corporations are now attempting to break the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), one of this nation’s strongest, most democratic and most egalitarian unions. The PMA has been stonewalling the negotiations and, via a call from Tom Ridge (director, Homeland Security) to Jim Spinoza (president, ILWU), the Bush administration has threatened under
the guise of “national security” to bring the forces of the U.S. government to bear. If the government/corporate alliance succeeds in eliminating the ILWU hiring hall, this union will essentially be broken, and a cascade of others can not be far behind.

In support of the unions’ struggle, there will be a rally at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, July 24, 2002 at 550 California Street, San Francisco (between Kearny and Montgomery). In a historic first, the California AFL-CIO will interrupt its state convention to rally in solidarity with the ILWU. The rally is sponsored by the ILWU, California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, and Teamsters.

On June 30, contracts with the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) expired for nearly all West Coast maritime workers’ unions, including over 10,000 longshore workers, sailors, firemen, mates, engineers and
maintenance workers. During negotiations in June, the PMA covertly broke the official gag rule, and began a media campaign with gross exaggerations about portworkers’ wages, and misrepresentations about the union’s resistance to new technologies. In actuality, although new technologies such as Internet communications are being introduced, the PMA is attempting to eliminate union jobs by moving jobs off-site.

Although the negotiations are officially between the PMA and the ILWU, Walmart and Target now essentially control the negotiations. The government/corporate effort to break the ILWU is another facet of the greed-driven assault of global corporatization on workers, the environment, health and safety protections, and our democracy.