In the upcoming contract negotiations the ILWU will be facing an all out attack by the PMA. In a statement before a congressional committee earlier this year, PMA head, Joe Miniace, openly declared that they want to take away our hiring hall and replace it with an automatic telephone dispatch system that will be used to supplement a small steady group of longshore workers for each company. He said, “This would eliminate the current practice of gathering workers to a central location within the harbor area. . . ” And PMA is demanding a free hand in using electronic technology. It would render longshore jurisdiction meaningless as they transfer ship clerk jobs out of state and cut longshore, clerk and walking boss jobs. Miniace is trying to sell this scheme to our union officials under the guise of a “spirit of cooperation”. Buyers beware! He praises the 1960’s “M&M” agreement, which gave windfall profits for PMA in a losing exchange of jobs for money. We can’t afford to make that mistake again. ILWU jurisdiction must not be sold for any price!
It is instructive that in Miniace’s congressional statement he uses the ILA port of Houston as a model for his steady workforce scheme. What he forgot to mention is that 80% of the longshore work in Houston is nonunion! Steadymen work the few container terminals and that’s all. This idea is nothing new. Waterfront employers in Singapore (where NOL is based) used a similar scheme a few years ago for their steady crane operators. They were told they were the “star” workers and didn’t need lashers and “unskilled” workers from the union. Now they have no union to effectively protect longshore workers.
Keep PMA’s Hands Off The Hiring Hall
The hiring hall was won in the ‘34 strike with the blood of labor martyrs. It remains the basis of our strength today, providing the union with some control of the jobs. The hiring hall embodies labor solidarity. It is where union and work issues are discussed before we go to work. Without the hiring hall or the right to strike coastwide we’d have very little power. Over the years we’ve experienced fractures in the integrity of the structure of our dispatch hall whose key principle is the equal opportunity of work for all longshoremen. The steady and “B” man systems, the wage tiers, “side deals” and doubling – all undermine the principle of equality and must be changed. They divide us at a critical time when we need unity against the employers – during difficult contract negotiations. Defend Jobs – Fight for the 6 Hour Work Day
Electronic technology and computerization will continue to develop and expand in the global economy of which maritime transportation is a key component. Just as ILWU favors fair world trade over protectionism, we must favor technological advancement over stagnation. However, under capitalism workers get the short end of the stick, i. e labor saving devices mean unemployment for workers. If the trade union movement is to survive and grow, we need to gear our contract demands to the new technological gains. The American trade union movement was built 130 years ago on the struggle for the 8 hour day. Now we must fight for a shorter work day with no loss in pay. In other words, 4 shifts of 6 hours work instead of the present three shifts. It will provide more work for new members. Miniace and the PMA are trying to portray us to the press as a bunch of lazy, overpaid workers with our feet stuck in the mud as far as modern technology is concerned. By showing that we want all workers to share the benefits of technology, not just the rich, we gain the support of the working class hard hit with unemployment.
Oppose the War in Afghanistan and Defend Workers’ Rights in the U.S.
Contract negotiations are coming at a bad time. The economy is depressed. Politicians, both Republicans and Democrats, and the news media are using the September 11th terrorist attack against the World Trade Center in which 6,000 innocent people were killed to beat the drums for a “war against terrorism”. But the first victim of this “war” is not the Saudi millionaire terrorist Osama bin Laden. (Twenty years ago his Al Qaeda cutthroats were trained and financed by the U.S. to fight in an Islamic “holy war” against Soviet troops supporting a secular government in Afghanistan. ) Nor are bin Laden’s hosts, the ruling Taliban, being heavily hit. No, the first and most direct victims are innocent Afghani civilians who are dying from U.S. and British bombing raids. Secondly, the U.S. labor movement is being targeted under the pretext of a “heightened national security”. This month when government workers in Minnesota went on strike, Governor Ventura called out the National Guard and assailed them as “unpatriotic” for exercising their right to strike. The ILWU should oppose the war in Afghanistan and defend the working people of that country against imperialist attacks as we defend workers’ rights here at home. ILWU could be next.
The so-called Port and Maritime Security Act of 2001 introduced by Senator Hollings of South Carolina would, if passed, militarize the docks. It would impose background checks on longshore workers. It would undermine our hiring hall and our union solidarity by denying the right of employment to those who have been in prison or are deemed “national security” risks (as was Harry Bridges). Today, members who voice political opposition to the war in Afghanistan could be deregistered. The right to strike will be dumped overboard, leaving unions with virtually no negotiating power. When anti-labor forces tried to pass this kind of bill during the “war against drugs” it fizzled. But now, in the present war hysteria with Democrats and Republicans singing the same marching tune, maritime employers see a golden opportunity. Miniace’s strategy has always been to seek government intervention in union affairs, using capital’s courts against the ILWU whenever possible, perhaps his failed effort in the Neptune Jade case being the most glaring example. Now more than ever workers need their own party, a workers’ party to represent working class interests.
For now, unions must rely on labor solidarity to ensure social justice. An important test of labor’s strength will be on November 14th, the first day of the Charleston 5 trial. It was the ILWU that threw the life ring to the embattled Charleston longshoremen by joining them on the picket line in the face of a massive police provocation. And it was the ILWU that early on helped to enlist participation of the organized labor movement on the West Coast, throughout the U.S. and internationally in their defense campaign.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney has called for a National Day of Action on November 14 for the Charleston 5. If labor rallies in major cities around the country take place and if longshore workers attend those rallies, effectively shutting down the ports, it will send a resounding message to maritime employers and politicians that the organized labor movement will not stand idly by while our fundamental rights – like the right to picket – are under attack.
Jack Heyman #8780
ILWU Local 10
San Francisco, California
