Dockworkers, ILWU, news & stuff

Jeffrey Fisher jfisher at igc.org
Mon Oct 7 14:27:49 PDT 2002


i *dimly* recall the dock struggles in australia a few years ago (which i followed closely at the time), but i don't remember a horrible outcome . . . could you (or someone else, perhaps one of our comrades from down under) provide a quick synopsis?

thanks.

j

On Mon, 7 Oct 2002 15:19:36 -0700 (PDT) "Brian O. Sheppard x349393" <bsheppard at bari.iww.org> wrote:


>
> Bush invoked powers today under the
> Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 to appoint a
> fact-finding commission to investigate the
> ongoing lockout.
>
> The ILWU website, which should be the most
> informative source for info in
> the midst of all this, unfortunately leaves
> much to be desired (like many
> union webpages). But there is a press realease
> on there, issued just
> today (Oct. 7), where ILWU Pres. James Spinoza
> states, "Their [PMA]
> strategy has been all along to use the lockout
> to push this situation
> to crisis and get the government to bail them
> out with the Taft-Hartley
> injunction." And the union's demands are
> reaffirmed: "that the jobs left over
> after the implementation of technology and the
> new jobs created by the technology be ILWU
> jobs."
>
> With even Democrats calling for Bush to use
> Taft-Hartley, it looks like we
> have another disgusting display of
> bipartisanship against the working
> class in common. The struggle for control of
> ports is vital to the corporate
> globalization process, and many people, like
> myself, have suspected this
> is simply an attempt by US elites to break the
> ILWU to clear these
> important channels of international commerce of
> any worker control. This
> follows the privatization of docks in other
> countries, such as England,
> Australia, New Zealand, and Korea.
>
> Today's ILWU Press Release is at:
> http://www.ilwu.org/solidarityday/20021007PressRelease.htm
>
> Interestingly, a CBS-New York Times Poll on
> Sunday said 7 in 10 Americans
> would rather hear candidates address the
> economy than war with Iraq.
>
> Things you can do:
>
> Faxes can be sent at AFL-CIO expense to various
> CEOs and relevant
> organizations from these webpages:
>
> http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/ilwu2
>
> http://www.aflcio.org/news/2002/1004_ilwu_campaign.htm
>
> I think someone else on the list posted one of
> these links before. Well,
> here it is again.
>
> Brian
>
>
>
>
> --
>
>
> "At times one remains faithful to a cause only
> because its opponents do
> not cease to be insipid." - Friedrich Nietzsche
>
>
>



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list