But they also see it in larger terms, as part and parcel of the wave of repression sweeping the nation since the inception of the so-called 'War on Terror.'
And the ILWU has urged its members, and other unions, to recognize and utilize their labor power to change the way things are going. In a statement on the Web, they've called for a Labor Conference to End the War, finding inspiration from history. The unions wrote:
As historian Isaac Deutscher said during the Vietnam War, a single strike would be more effective than all the peace marches. French dockworkers did strike in the port of Marseilles, and helped bring an end to the war in Vietnam. To put a stop to this bloody colonial occupation, labor must use its power. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union has opposed the war on Iraq since the beginning. In the Bay Area, ILWU Local 10 has repeatedly warned that the so-called "war on terror" is really a war on working people and democratic right. Around the country hundreds of unions and labor councils have passed motions condemning the war, but that has not stopped the war. We need to use labor's muscle to stop the war by mobilizing union power in the streets, at the plant gates and on the docks to force the immediate and total withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. {From: "A Call to Action; Labor Conference to Stop the War!."
http://laborstopwar.googlepages.com/laborconferencetostopthewar. 10/3/07, p.2.} For more info: check out: laborstopwar.googlepages.com.
For the ILWU, the slogan, 'an injury to one, is an injury to all' ain't just rap.
--(c) '07 maj
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