Nurses took this traveling billboard to their anti-Scharzenegger demonstrations.  Photo by: Tom Price.

by Tom Price

ILWU members lit up the switch boards, pounded the sidewalks and pressed the flesh in a big effort to get out the vote—and it worked. The defeat of Governor Schwarzenegger’s pro-business agenda in the Nov. 8 special election owes much to ordinary workers standing up to a corporate bully.

Schwarzenegger and his business friends backed four ballot measures designed to bypass the elected legislature and turn California into a corporate free-fire zone. Instead, the measures went down in flames and the governor, whose approval rating is in the mid-30th percentile, took off to China to look for free trade.

Organizing by the Northern and Southern California District Councils (NCDC and SCDC) was key to ILWU’s participation. But huge corporate contributions to the governor’s ballot measures made it an uphill battle. The ILWU’s International Executive Board recommended "no" votes on Propositions 74, 75, 76, 77 and 78. The District Councils, composed of retirees and members elected from the locals, mobilized volunteers to let people know the governor does not have their interests at heart.

"Our focus over the last four months was on building a game plan to help defeat Schwarzenegger," SCDC President and longshore Local 13 member Joe Radisich said. "Six weeks out [from the election] the Los Angeles County Labor Federation had a big meeting with political directors and heads of unions and laid out a strategy to defeat Schwarzenegger."

At that time "yes" on Prop. 75 was leading by a wide margin, Radisich said. SCDC started an education program, going to the locals with power point presentations to educate members and keep them from being fooled by TV commercials that tried to make Prop. 75 look like a pro-worker proposition.

"We started with dispelling all the myths," Radisich said. "We sent out written material and at the same time did an e-mail blast to 1,500 people in our data banks."

The warehouse Local 26 hall became a gathering point for canvassers and organizers.

"The LA area union movement took over our whole hall except for a few clerical spaces," Local 26 President Luisa Gratz said. "That was fine. Their enthusiasm was incredible. These people mobilized the community. They brought in people who had never been active before."

The NCDC worked with county labor councils in phone banking and canvassing. The governor’s personal backing of his favorite propositions meant opportunities to confront him on the streets. NCDC joined with nurses and other workers to greet the governor with demonstrations. One of these, on Hegenberger Ave. in Oakland, just down the street from the warehouse Local 6 hall, brought out ILWU members and more than 200 people.

"Some people are uncomfortable knocking on doors or calling on the phone, so this way they could still participate in the demonstration, and this affected the outcome of the election," Local 6 and NCDC Secretary-Treasurer Fred Pecker said. "We got good media coverage and it set a positive tone for us."

But the ILWU needs to improve on getting its rank and file out to participate, Pecker said.

"I think the street pressure put people in mind that this was something urgent and there were a lot of different kinds of actions going on," Pecker said.

The NCDC will work to find ways to raise more money. "But money is always minimal when compared to human beings," Pecker said.