Portside

Time to follow the containers, march inland and organize! Time to build a multi-union organizing project. Time to strategize and organize!" Read Robert Cherny’s “Harry Bridges Labor Radical, Labor Legend”, University of Illinois Press 2023.

The Department of Labor accepted 86 percent of COVID-19 claims for federal workers, while it accepted only 7 percent of COVID-19 related claims from longshore and other harbor workers. 

The ILWU was fined $93.6 million over a labor dispute in Oregon, a sum which could bankrupt the union. Union President Adams explains that the ILWU will fight the judgement in court and will continue to defend its members, no matter the outcome.

The issue of automation is bigger than the ILWU-PMA contract,” said Herrera, “it’s about the community, the economy and ultimately the future of the middle class.”

Dutch dockworkers strike to stop job loss due to containerization and overcapacity.

If ILWU members don’t figure out how to use their ship-side strength to bolster unionization across the logistics industry, they will see their power erode, as shippers and terminal operators continue to shift work off the docks and away from the waterfront. The ILWU’s members, with their rich history, deserve as much from their union. They still have time to avoid the fate of once-strong unions like the UAW.

The tentative agreement reached between the ILWU and the Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers Association (PNGHA) would impose a major reduction in working conditions and shop floor power, including the loss of the union controlled hiring hall, and no overtime pay until after 12 hours. The agreement would prevent work stoppages because it would allow the employer the right to use its own managers to replace union workers during work stoppages.

Leo Robinson was a leader of the longshore union in San Francisco. He died this week. For many of us, he was an example of what being an internationalist and a working-class activist was all about.