by Steve Stallone, Editor, The Dispatcher, the ILWU newspaper
ILWU longshore workers shut down all ports along the North American West Coast from Alaska to the Mexican border for eight hours September 8 in solidarity with the Liverpool dockers.
Members met at their local union halls to discuss the situation in Liverpool and how the threats of privatization and casualization are looming over dock workers around the world and on our own waterfront in Los Angeles, Calif. There the city has leased the operation of a coal export facility known as the Los Angeles Export Terminal (LAXT) to a private company that is attempting to run it with non-union labor.
At the Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbor 32 vessels were in port when longshoremen walked out. The Port of Oakland had two ships at berth at that time. Three ships were held up in Portland, delaying two trains. In Seattle six ships in port were delayed during the work stoppage and earlier that day longshore workers aboard ships bound for Thamesport used the opportunity to discuss the Liverpool situation, which may have impacted productivity. At least a dozen ships in Vancouver, British Columbia were delayed during the work stoppage.
ILWU locals have been making regular donations to our brothers and sisters in Liverpool and have pledged to continue to do so.
"Our members should take great pride in having the consciousness
to see past our own narrow jurisdiction and realize that only through solidarity
with our brothers and sisters around the globe will we be able to secure
our future and theirs," said ILWU International President Brian McWilliams.