Updated: Changed title of this post to reflect that the shutdown has succeeded. The AP is reporting now that West Coast ports are basically shut down.

It’s been circulating around the internet and occasionally newsrooms for a couple of months now. We alerted our readers about it back in March. The PMA (Pacific Maritime Association, representing employers) rejected the union’s request for a 1-day work stoppage during the busy day shift and an arbitrator backed them up. Supposedly the Union agreed to the arbitrator’s decision but also expressed that they couldn’t control their members from exercising their right to protest the war. Translation = we’re going to do it anyways. And it’s on:

Picket lines were set up at work entrances for Union Pacific workers who move all the railway freight containers to and from the Oakland port early this morning.

About 30 protesters are currently stopping container trucks to talk to workers from United Transportation Union Local 239 in an effort to prevent them from entering the railyard on Middle Harbor Road.

Direct Action to Stop the War, which organized the rally, is calling on workers from Local 239 to join with the ILWU longshoremen (dock workers) and the antiwar movement and not work today.

Here’s what the Union spokesman had to say:

Union spokesman Craig Merrilees said the union was complying with the contract, but he declined to specify whether it had taken steps to order members to report to work as the arbitrator ordered.

“The decision by members to take a day off work on May 1 to protest the war is their right under the U.S. Constitution and it’s about time that citizens stood up to tell the truth about the need to end the war,” he said.

He declined to specify what steps the Union had taken to order members to report to work because they obviously haven’t taken any steps to order members to report to work. Not a surprise as from what I have heard the PMA last week was already complaining that the Union was not doing enough to communicate to their members the need to report to work. The fact that this “war protest” falls on May Day, the International Workers Day, I’m sure is just a coincidence.

Update: 08:40am
Just received verbal confirmation that two terminals in Oakland are not open today due to “lack of labor”, one of them being the terminal that handles Maersk. According to one of the local drayage operators I know, yesterday the terminals were insisting they would be open (most likely because of the arbitrator’s ruling) while the Union clerks and longshoresmen were privately telling the drivers that they weren’t showing up for work the next day. So no surprise, really. The ultimate goal is to get the entire West Coast port system shut down today. Here’s a report from Seattle where it appears they are shut down as well:

There were locked gates and few trucks at the Port of Seattle on Thursday despite an arbitrator’s order telling dockworkers not to take the day off for May Day protests, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reported.

I also just received a report verbally from one of my contacts in LA that the terminals are shut down there as well. So it looks like the whole West Coast is pretty much shut down for the day.

Update: 11:00am PST
The PR battle has begun. The PMA just issued a press release stating that the Union “…defied orders from the independent Coast Arbitrator…”. More here:

This work-stoppage, illegal under the ILWU-Pacific Maritime Association contract, comes just two months prior to the expiration of the current labor agreement. PMA spokesman Steve Getzug said today’s actions raised the question of whether this was an attempt to leverage contract negotiations. He also expressed concerns that the ILWU might use slowdowns as a negotiating tactic, as they have in the past.

A year ago, in a press release announcing early contract talks, ILWU President Robert McEllrath said: “The ILWU is likewise committed to good faith negotiations and is hopeful that the parties can reach a conclusion to negotiations without transportation disruptions from either side.” Today’s action, Getzug said, raises concerns about whether those hopes will be fulfilled.

Update: 11:30am PST
The ILWU is sticking with its strategy of claiming that workers are simply exercising their own individual political rights. The PDF announcement from ILWU.org is here:

McEllrath says rank-and-file members made their own democratic decision in early February when Longshore Caucus delegates voted to take action on May 1. Employers were notified of the plan, but refused to accommodate the union’s request despite plenty of advance notice. The employer group, represented by the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) consists of large carriers and port operators, most of which are foreign-owned.

Update: 3:37pm PST
Logistics Management weighs in on the shutdown:

The ILWU represents 25,000 dockworkers on the Pacific coast and has staged political protests similar to this one for much of its storied history. The transport disruption, this time though, is happening when many shippers have already decided to source goods using an “all-water” route via the Suez Canal, and call U.S. East Coast ports instead.

Industry analysts have suggested that the unreliable and unstable labor force here may influence the long-term shipping and sourcing strategies of U.S. manufacturers and growers.

Gee, ya think?

Share This

Stumble it!