by Brian Lewis, UTU Local 239, Oakland, CA

On May 1st, International Workers Day - the REAL Labor Day, members of the International Longshoremen and Warehousemen's Union, (ILWU), shut down the entire West Coast shipping industry from Long Beach, CA to Seattle, WA in protest over Bush's debacle in the Iraq.

The ILWU has a long history of social and political activism stretching from the 1930's when workers refused to load scrap metal destined for Japan to more recent actions against the Vietnam War and apartheid in South Africa.  On May 1st, the ILWU took a stand against the Iraq War and idled work at container ports on the west coast and urged other union members to join them.

In Oakland, CA, the San Francisco Bay Area's active anti- Iraq War community formed the Port Workers May Day Organizing Committee in support of the ILWU action and picketed the Union Pacific Railroad's Oakland facility.   They successfully blocked its entrances for two hours preventing UTU, BLE&T, BMWE and BRC members from crossing their picket lines.  It was the demonstrator's hope that the rail workers would join the ILWU action.  Unfortunately, they were unaware of how the Railway Labor Act 'hog-ties' rail workers from engaging in work stoppages that are unrelated to safety or major contract disputes.

After several cellular telephone calls to General Committee offices, it was determined to be an 'Informational Picket' and therefore rail labor was required to comply with management's directives to seek alternative routes free of pickets.  Opening an alternative chain-link gate, the local Trainmaster was able to secret a few workers around the demonstration, but picketers quickly moved their line to block the new access point.

After two hours, enough Union Pacific and Oakland police officers had arrived to stymie the blockade and the remaining rail workers were escorted safely through.  The ILWU's solidarity, militancy and independence stand as a model for the rest of organized labor.  As a result of the May 1st action, many of UP's newly-hired workers had an opportunity to experience the power of unity.