On May Day, ports up and down the Pacific Coast were quiet. Nearly 10,000 longshore division workers voluntarily gave up a day’s pay to participate in one of the largest and most effective “no work” actions in recent history.

The May Day action had one important goal:  to protest the war in Iraq. But it also produced some unexpected benefits, including a powerful display of membership solidarity, extraordinary public support, and extensive positive media coverage.

While Local 13 and other Southern California locals didn’t hold rallies or marches like their counterparts up north, they made their own dramatic statements with overwhelming membership participation that sent a clear message to the politicians in Washington who continue to fund the war in Iraq.

“Our message about ending the war was received loud and clear in Washington, D.C., and the response there was overwhelmingly positive,” said Local 63 Secretary Peter Peyton who was in the Capitol on May Day to help spread the word with a team that included International Secretary-Treasurer Willie Adams, Local 40 Vice President Dawn DesBrisay, plus Legislative Director Lindsay McLaughlin and Legislative Assistant Kyle Weimann.

Local 29 members in San Diego protested the war in Iraq on May Day, and President William Silva was interviewed on local TV news stations.

“All of us agree that it’s time to get out of Iraq now,” Silva told the local CBS and FOX outlets. “We care too much about America to stand by while our country, our troops and our economy are destroyed by the Iraq war. Soldiers from working families are fighting and dying for a stupid war.” Local 29 member Ray Leyba was also interviewed by TV reporters.  “We stand together not with signs but with human beings, with bodies and families who are united against the war,” he told CBS, adding: “This doesn’t have anything to do with our contract or negotiations.”

Public support for the action by ILWU members was overwhelming, with over a thousand unsolicited “thank-you” messages that poured into ILWU locals and International headquarters. A relative handful of complaints were received – and most of them came from anti-union employers.

President Joe Cortez of Local 13 said their office received many offers to help from concerned citizens in their community. The same was true at other ILWU locals in the Southland, according to Local 29 President William Silva in San Diego and Local 46 President Dan Hultgen in Port Hueneme.

Local 46 workers in Port Hueneme took the day off to reflect on the war. One member, Victor Gallardo, was protesting 35 years ago against the Vietnam War. Today his two daughters are serving in the military, one of them on her second tour in Iraq. “Our union has always been anti-war,” he told the Ventura County Star.

“We don’t have any kind of picket line today,” Local 46 President Dan Hultgen told the Star. “We’re just letting the country know that we’re supporting our troops and asking for an end to the war.”

In addition to sending messages and phone calls, some community members brought boxes of donuts and other goodies to ILWU members as a way to show support. Paul Krehbiel was one private citizen who drove an hour from his home in Pasadena after hearing about the ILWU action on the radio. He arrived at San Pedro with five fresh apple pies; each was decorated with an American flag and a “thank you” message.  The former truck driver and construction worker said, “All of you are true patriots for what you did today, your courage is inspiring to everyone who wants the war to end.”

At Local 19 in Seattle, the docks were quiet and cranes were “boomed-up” – a sign that usually signals a serious tragedy such as a death on the job, but not on May Day.

“Normally, when I see all the cranes boomed up, it makes me sad,” ILWU Local 19 President Herald Ugles told a crowd of nearly 2,000 marchers at a waterfront rally in Seattle. “But today it’s a great sight to see all those cranes boomed up – not just here, but all up and down the whole West Coast!”

With that comment, the crowd erupted in cheers, whistles and sign-waving. A diverse group of ILWU workers, community groups, and
fellow union members were on-hand to celebrate the coastwise solidarity action against the war in Iraq.

Ugles noted the toll that the war has been taking on the troops – and on America’s economy. He attacked the “decline of our country’s infrastructure, including roads, rails, and bridges that have been neglected with dire results, such as the tragic deaths of innocent people who perished in Minnesota when an aging bridge collapsed.” Ugles then pointed to the nearby Alaskan Way Viaduct, an elevated, double-decker highway along Seattle’s waterfront that USA Today has called “a catastrophe waiting to happen.” Interviewed by KOMO News 4, Ugles summed-up the views of many by saying, “We need to stop this war, bring our troops home, and let’s rebuild America – not just Iraq.”

The spirited rally in Seattle capped a 2-mile waterfront march that began near the Local 19 union hall. The march was led by Local 19 members, and included representatives from most other Washington ILWU locals.

In Portland, several dozen members of Columbia River ILWU locals gathered with peace activists on a floating walkway in Portland to place flowers in the Willamette River that represented more than 4,000 American soldiers killed in Iraq.

The event was heavily covered by local media. Local 8 Secretary-
Treasurer Bruce Holte told the Portland Business Journal that all 1,300 workers from Locals 8, 40, and 92 in Portland, Local 4 in Vancouver, Local 50 in Astoria and Local 21 in Longview, were joining the members in 25 other ports to “take a stand for the majority of Americans who oppose the war in Iraq.”  Members from Local 5 in Portland were also on hand to lend their support.

Holte told Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), “We’re very proud union members, and we feel strongly against the war. Believe me, they know back in Washington, D.C. that we’re not working today – and why we’re not.”

When asked if he was afraid of getting fired for skipping work to protest the war, Local 8 member Jerry Lawrence told OPB News, “If that’s what they wish to do, then they gotta fire all of us, ‘cause we stand in solidarity.”

Local 8 President Jeff Smith published an opinion piece on Oregon’s most influential blog on May 3rd, thanking the community for their generous expressions of support. He wrote, “We’ve run out of patience with the endless excuses for why this war goes on and on with “goals” that seem to change all the time. It’s time to thank our troops for their service by bringing them home so they can raise their kids.”

Smith’s opinion piece drew effusive positive comments from readers statewide who thanked locals and the International Union for taking a stand against the war. 

In Tacoma, Local 23 workers also protested on May Day, and got good media coverage for their strong show of solidarity.

“We have a long history of taking-up social causes even if they aren’t popular,” explained Local 23’s Scott Mason to the Tacoma News Tribune, “Our job is to get ships in and out, but today we need to get those troops home.”

Local 23 members showed some solidarity on the home-front by attending an afternoon rally to support security guards at their port who want to join the ILWU, but are getting the run-around from management.

Local 54 members in Stockton took the day off to protest the war. At a local May Day rally, teachers, Teamsters, nurses, and Stockton City Councilwoman Susan Eggman joined two veterans who spoke against the war.

“It’s a small group, but we have a statement to make,” Secretary-Treasurer Gene Davenport said. “It’s time to end the war—now.”

One of the ILWU’s largest May Day events happened in the San Francisco Bay Area where union members and community supporters gathered at the Local 10 hall until Local 10’s Drill Team members led-off a waterfront march at a smart clip. Longshore workers followed behind with family and friends, passing old piers where longshoremen once loaded ships by hand and fought to establish the ILWU. They passed the Ferry Building and Harry Bridges Plaza near the spot where longshoremen were gunned-down in 1934.

Joining longshore workers were a colorful mix of supporters that included teachers, nurses, activists from the “Raging Grannies” and unionized exotic dancers from the Lusty Lady Theater. Together they filled the plaza with more than a thousand protestors who gathered for a noon rally where Local 34 President Richard Cavalli was one of the first speakers.

“This war, like all wars, is killing the sons and daughters of workers. George Bush’s daughters are getting married in the White House while our daughters are getting buried in Iraq. The politicians in office have failed to end this war—and it’s not going to end until we get people into the streets.”

ILWU International Executive Board Member Lawrence Thibeaux read a statement from ILWU International President Bob McEllrath:
“The corporations that control global shipping today aren’t loyal or accountable to any country. To them, it’s all about making money. But longshore workers are different. We’re loyal to America, and we won’t stand by while our country, our troops, and our economy are destroyed by a war that’s bankrupting us to the tune of $3 trillion dollars.”

Actor Danny Glover was on hand to lend his support and thank longshore workers for taking a stand.  Local 10 members Jack Heyman and Clarence Thomas also spoke, joining a host of community activists.

After the San Francisco rally, some members from Local 10 and 34 attended the Immigrant’s Rights Rally at Dolores Park, then marched to San Francisco’s Civic Center. ILWU members in the East Bay also attended an immigrant’s rally in Oakland at the Fruitvale BART station, then marched to Oakland City Hall.

Local 34 capped-off the day of action by hosting a Community May Day
Potluck Celebration with Local 10 at their union hall on the waterfront. Special guests performed at the event, including singer Renee Gibbons, signer/poet Raymond Nat Turner from the group Upsurge, signer Elisa Welch from the activist group Code Pink, and entertainers Kingpin Row & Lady Yen who performed songs and poetry as the Elite Team. 

Local 34 members Jacquline Hart, Guillermo Morales, Messina Bishop, Karl Bishop, Sean Farley, Juan del Pozo, Tony Boyadzis – plus Christopher Cadelago of Local 10 – all worked hard to make their celebration a successful conclusion to a historic day for all ILWU members. 

   –     contributors to this report included             Craig Merrilees, Russ Miyashiro,             Tom Price, and Jennifer Sargent