[lbo-talk] Seattle Port Shutdown

shag carpet bomb shag at cleandraws.com
Sun Feb 12 10:42:19 PST 2012


I don't think anyone here advanced the notion that the West Coast Port Shutdown was a bad idea, but this might still be useful for those of you who have friends who do/did, from Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports about the recent Seattle Port Shutdown:

If the drivers' collective action sent shockwaves throughout the shipping and trucking industry, then their demonstration equally uprooted a commonly held societal belief. During the Occupy Wall Street port shutdowns, activists and well-intentioned sympathizers debated whether the blockades would siphon wages from port workers – arguably one of the greatest symbols of the 99% — or if it would suck profits from the 1%, such as the Seattle-based global terminal operator, Goldman Sachs' SSA Marine, and its West Coast trucking outfit, Shipper's Transport Express.

What their protest proves is that port drivers, as inside agitators, are very much willing to lose pay as a means to powerfully reveal the crushing economic forces that literally put their lives and livelihoods at risk. Even, and especially amidst a severe economic downturn. Their historical ability to self organize, unite, and seize opportunities to improve their working conditions is unfolding before our eyes. Hundreds more drivers have since joined the safety work stoppage, and some companies remain shut with too few workers to move the cargo.

<http://cleanandsafeports.org/blog/2012/02/01/breaking-america%E2%80%99s-truck-drivers-shut-down-port-of-seattle-to-expose-dangers-of-the-job/>http://cleanandsafeports.org/blog/2012/02/01/breaking-america%E2%80%99s-truck-drivers-shut-down-port-of-seattle-to-expose-dangers-of-the-job/

-- http://cleandraws.com Wear Clean Draws ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)



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