On the West coast of the USA members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) are fighting to save their livelihood while their employers, members of the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), try to use new technology to take away good-paying union jobs.
But what was a straightforward dispute about jobs has now developed into a fight with international economic effects and international political ramifications.
A two-week lockout of more than 10,000 dockworkers by the PMA saw the economies of countries around the Pacific threatened, as ships were unable to load or unload their goods. Just in time systems meant that factories around the Pacific lacking raw materials and basic components had to close down. Now George W Bush has invoked the Taft-Hartley Act to force the dockworkers back to work under conditions imposed by the PMA.
The Taft Hartley Act is just one of a series of anti-union laws at President Bush's disposal. It allows a federal judge to impose an 80-day "cooling off" period in which work stoppages are banned. Last used by Democratic President Jimmy Carter to force striking coal miners to retum to work (it failed to do so), this time round the PMA will use the 80 days for free shots at the union.
The ILWU commented, "we expect the employers will be dragging us to court daily, trying to bankrupt the union and throw our leaders in jail."
At a rally in San Francisco one ILWU rep declared, "Make no mistake about it, the bosses and the government want to bust our union because they know we represent a militant and progressive tradition that must be broken if they re to succeed in imposing their global corporate agenda."
*By invoking Taft-Hartley against the longshore workers, Bush is effectively declaring war on the working class here and the Iragi people simultaneously," another rep said. "We must either go forbefore has there been so much solidarity for a union as has been expressed for the ILWU in our struggle now."
There have been concerns that the union leadership had fallen into a trap by claiming that dockworkers play a leading role in "national security." Bush responded by claiming that a "national emergency" had made it necessary to impose Taft-Hartley. But union leaders' errors cannot mask a militant tradition which in the last few years has seen support for the Liverpool dockers, shut downs to demand a new trial for death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal and protest against the WTO.
Just as the fire-fighters dispute calls into question Blair's military aims, the longshore workers fight is a direct threat to Bush. They need our solidarity.
For further information try the ILWU website - www.iwu.org.
page 19 of the scan
International debate The executive of the WW3T14!