PORT OF AZTLAN, April 27, 2007--The independent truckers of the Port of Aztlan, working with the Industrial Workers of the World, made good on their promise to shut down the Los Angeles port on May 1, in support of nationwide migrants' rights protests scheduled for that day and the truckers' struggle to organize.  This morning the Los Angeles Port Authority declared the port would be closed for a May 1 "holiday," thereby avoiding potential litigation from shippers facing dockers' and demurrage fees for goods left on the dock during the truckers' strike.

Ernesto Nevarez, spokesperson for the truckers, explained, "[The Port Authority] knows the truckers are going to do it [strike] anyway.  By calling it a legal holiday, they avoid liability for the shutdown.  We forced them to recognize May Day."

The announcement culminated several months' worth of planning, according to the IWW representative at the Harbor protest this morning, who added that he hoped that "the Port Authority would make May Day a regular holiday, and that the troqueros would remember it every year."

According to the IWW organizer, independent truckers at the independent truckers of the Port of Aztlan lost their right to organize thirty years ago, during the deregulation of the Reagan presidency.  The IWW has joined with trucking organizers to "assist with their organizing."

Several truckers promised to use their day off on May 1 to join hunger strikers for immigrants' rights now in their fifth day of a fourteen-day strike at the feet of  La Virgen de Guadalupe mural outside La Placita Church.  Navarez recalled the independent truckers 2006 port shutdown in conjunction with last year's May 1 immigration boycott and their commitment to the May Day 2007 National Mobilization to Support Immigrant Workers.  "Migrants are just the victims of the global economy and politics, people who want to survive.  That's why we're out here."  Nearly every other truck honked for the half-dozen guys packing up their signs calling for the May Day strike, while two police cars parked just down the block watched the developments.

Sorry, but this is nonsense. There is no Los Angeles Port Authority. There is a Los Angeles Harbor Department, which owns the land, but they don't have the authority to declare a holiday because they don't actually run any of the terminals. The terminals are leased by the LAHD to shipping companies and terminal operators--and they don't have the authority to unilaterally declare "holidays" either, as these are determined strictly by the Pacific Coast Longshore and Clerks Agreement. Furthermore, even if a boycott involving 100% of the port truckers were anticipated, there would be no reason for any of the shipping companies or terminal operators to stop vessel loading and unloading operations, which are done entirely separate from the delivery of cargo to truck drivers due to jurisdictional clauses in the PCLCA that date back to the days when most truck drivers were members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Individual terminal operators and stevedoring companies are, of course, free to schedule stripped-down "truck delivery" (i.e., receiving and delivering cargo and empty containers to truck drivers) operations on May 1st, or to schedule no such operations at all. This is probably what they will do; whether they take the first or the second option will depend on how much of a boycott they expect to happen. But they certainly do not need a "holiday" to do this. They are always free under the PCLCA to order or not order labor on any given day, for any given operation, at any given terminal, depending on whether they want those operations performed or not. In any event, expect vessel operations (i.e., moving cargo from the ship to the dock and vice versa, not to be confused with truck delivery and receiving operations) to continue as normal.

In conclusion, I certainly hope that this "announcement" didn't really come from the IWW, as it is utter nonsense and I would hope that the Wobblies, who have a proud place in labor history (and indeed were the inspiration for Harry Bridges, the founder of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union), would know better than to release something so easily proven untrue.

Just as the mystical land of Aztlan, the PORT OF AZTLAN, and its mystical closure never occured. I do find the propaganda amusing though. I am always open for a good laugh to brighten my day and for that I thank you.