Drop The Lawsuits Now-Supporters Of ILWU Rally At PMA headquarters

Ken Riley is President of ILA Local 1422 in Charleston, South Carolina and ILA International President. Jim Cavanaugh is President of the South Central Federation of Labor in Madison,Wisconsin. Their messages were sent to the 400-strong rally in the rain in front of the Pacific Maritime Association headquarters today April 25 and energized the spirited rally. This rally called by ILWU Local 10 Executive Board and the San Francisco Labor Council was the first shot across the maritime employers' bow to demand they drop their vindictive lawsuit against the longshore local. San Francisco longshoremen and seamen led the '34 Big Strike. When cops killed two strikers, it sparked the San Francisco General Strike and made the city a union town. The victorious strike won the union hiring hall, eventually led to a split from the East Coast ILA and the formation of the ILWU on the West Coast. Local 10 is now defending itself from a lawsuit from PMA charging the union with shutting down the ports of Oakland and San Francisco April 4 in solidarity with the besieged government workers in Wisconsin. The AFL-CIO had called for "No Business as Usual" on April 4, the day Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated while supporting striking Memphis, Tenn. sanitation workers. As pointed out at the rally, Dr. King is an honorary member of Local 10. Coverage of the rally can be viewed on KTVU Channel 2 in Oakland.
Jack Heyman, Retired ILWU Local 10 Member, Chair Transport Workers Solidarity Committee