Union Muscle

While reading the San Francisco Chronicle Saturday morning I found this fantastic article on the front page of the Business section, “Longshore Workers Taking Off”

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/26/BUC610C2HA.DTL

Members of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union are planning a work stoppage on May 1st to protest the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, even though the union leadership has withdrawn its request for a "stop-work meeting" to the Pacific Maritime Association, who manages the waterfront. Apparently the ILWU is entitled to schedule a “stop-work meeting” once a month to discuss union business, but typically the union only does this on the second work shift in the evening. For their anti-war protest, the ILWU wanted to schedule the meeting/protest from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., which is the busiest shift of the day. The Pacific Maritime Association would not agree to this request, and the union leadership withdrew the stop-work request. Apparently the rank and file members did not get the message and still plan to protest. According to Craig Merrilees, a spokesman for the ILWU:

"The Longshore Caucus resolution calling on all locals to honor May 1 by taking action to end the war and bring the troops home safely from Iraq continues to move forward. Various voluntary rallies and public demonstrations are scheduled for May Day."

A couple of things really struck me about this article. First, I was struck by the fact that it was the Vietnam War veterans in the ILWU who advocated having the war protest. According to the SF Chronicle there was a spirited debate within the union, and it was the impassioned pleas of the Vietnam vets that turned the tide of opinion into taking this action, which will basically shut down the ports of the entire West Coast.

Secondly, regardless of how you feel about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, you have to be impressed by the solidarity of a union that had an honest debate, voted overwhelmingly to support a day of protest, and are now taking action. This is the type of solidarity that most unions can only dream of achieving. To achieve this type of union activism you have to have strong leadership at the top and strong dedication by the rank and file members.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the significance of May 1 for the labor movement, I would suggest this article to get acquainted with the International Workers' Day of May Day:

http://www.iww.org/projects/mayday/origins.shtml

Letters to the Bee

These are two letters that I wrote to the Modesto Bee that were published in the last year.

Posted on Sun, Mar. 09, 2008

Tell it to laid-off Hershey workers

March 09, 2008

I can't remember being more incensed after reading an article then I was after reading Fareed Zakaria's column, "Democrats demonstrate two weaknesses" (March 4, Page B-7), in which he pillories Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for wanting to renegotiate trade agreements.

Zakaria writes, "There are no serious economists or experts who believe that low wages in Mexico or China or India is the fundamental reason that American factories close down." He should tell that to the former workers at the Hershey plant who saw their jobs outsourced because of the low wages and lack of environmental standards available in Mexico.

Zakaria quotes a New Delhi television station as saying that hearing the Democrats talk about trade "is enough to send jitters down the spine of most in India." I say that we should be more concerned about the shiver that is sent down the spine of the American workers who have just learned that their good-paying jobs are being shipped overseas.

Free trade is not fair trade, and I look forward to electing a president who will negotiate trade deals that will benefit American workers, not hurt them.

STEPHEN TALBOTT

Waterford

Posted on Wed, Sep. 19, 2007

Worker help measure is underfunded

September 19, 2007

Regarding "Feds deny funds for Hershey workers" (Sept. 13, Page A-1): It is extremely disturbing, but not surprising, that the workers at the Hershey plant are not getting the help they need from the Bush administration's Department of Labor.

The Trade Adjustment Act, which was designed to help workers whose jobs are being lost to trade and offshoring, is underfunded and constantly subject to budget cuts. I am also concerned that county work force officials are asking for help from the 19th Congressional District's George Radanovich who, according to the AFL-CIO Web site, has one of the worst voting records in Congress when it comes to pro-worker and pro-union bills. I noted that Radanovich did not comment himself on the Hershey worker's plight, but had a spokesman speak for him. Perhaps the county officials would have better luck contacting the 18th Congressional District's Dennis Cardoza, who has a great record of voting on pro-working families issues.

STEPHEN TALBOTT

Waterford