May Day Strike Against the War Shuts Down All U.S. West Coast Ports (tags)
On May 1, every port on the West Coast of the United States was shut down to demand an end to the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. The historic May Day walkout by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is the first time ever that an American union has struck against a U.S. war. The union ranks defied the rulings of an arbitrator, who twice ordered them to go to work. They overcame the capitulations of the ILWU leadership, which didn't want the work stoppage in the first place, tried to water it down and cowered before the threats of legal action while waving the flag. The employers' Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) declared the May 1 port shutdown an "illegal strike." But after all the huffing and puffing from the bosses' mouthpieces, the dock workers pointed the way to defeating the imperialist war by mobilizing working-class power. In the end, it was more than a work stoppage. The dock workers' May Day strike against the war was a first step, a show of what it will take to bring down the warmongers in Washington. Their "symbolic" action was felt all the way to Iraq, where dock workers in two ports stopped work in solidarity with the ILWU. But it was only a beginning. What is needed is not only industrial action but a political offensive against the Democrats and Republicans, the partner parties of American imperialism, to build a class-struggle workers party.
For Workers Strikes Against the War! ILWU to Shut Down West Coast Ports May 1 Against War (tags)
In a major step for the U.S. labor movement, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has announced that it will shut down West Coast ports on May 1, to demand an immediate end to the war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Middle East.
Paro portuario en la Costa Oeste contra la guerra el 1° de mayo (tags)
En lo que representa un paso de gran importancia para el movimiento obrero norteamericano, el International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU – sindicato internacional de estibadores y almacenistas) ha anunciado que paralizará los puertos de la Costa Oeste de Estados Unidos el 1° de mayo para exigir el cese inmediato de la guerra y la ocupación en Irak y Afganistán, así como el retiro de las tropas norteamericanas de Medio Oriente. Ésta es la primera vez en décadas que un sindicato en Estados Unidos ha decidido emprender una acción industrial en contra de una guerra de EE.UU. La acción anunciada por el poderoso sindicato de trabajadores portuarios de la Costa Oeste, un paro de labores para parar la guerra, debe ser retomada por sindicatos y organizaciones de trabajadores de todo Estados Unidos y a escala internacional. El propósito de semejantes acciones no debe ser suplicar a los políticos burgueses –cuyas manos están llenas de sangre, por haber aprobado a lo largo de los últimos seis años y medio todo presupuesto de guerra– sino dar una muestra de la fuerza de los trabajadores, que hacen funcionar este país, ¡y que pueden también pararlo!
ILWU to Shut Down West Coast Ports May 1 Demanding End to War in Iraq, Afghanistan (tags)
In a major step for the U.S. labor movement, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has announced that it will shut down West Coast ports on May 1, to demand an immediate end to the war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Middle East. This is the first time in decades that an American union has decided to undertake industrial action against a U.S. war. The action announced by the powerful West Coast dock workers union, to stop work to stop the war, should be taken up by unions and labor organizations throughout the United States and internationally. And the purpose of such actions should be not to beg the bourgeois politicians whose hands are covered with blood, having voted for every war budget for six and a half years, but a show of strength of the working people who make this country run, and who can shut it down!