> DH wonders:
> What makes them like this? And unlike every other union in the USA?
I have quick answer to this, beyond John's much more thoughtful response: the fact that their contract entitles them to a "day for union business" (really a shift) every month. Many of these days have been confused with strikes by outsiders in the past, while this one actually is a strike only because the ILWU and PMA didn't agree on a shift. When a union rehearses a strike once a month, with many of those rehearsals politically charged (Mumia, WTO, every March 20, etc.), it must make it easier to actually pull such a thing off.