Dockers from around the world gathered in Montreal May 25-30 for the Second International Dockers Conference to develop a global program to fight the union-busting neo-liberal schemes like deregulation and privatization that are wreaking havoc in the world's ports from Veracruz to Kobe to Liverpool. Broader in scope than the first conference held last year in Liverpool, this one drew 50 delegates representing 30 unions from 27 ports in 15 countries on 5 continents. But as soon as the meeting got underway, it became apparent that one of the expected delegates was missing.
The seat of the representative from Brazil remained conspicuously empty, casting an eerie pall over the opening proceedings of the conference. The dockers at Santos, Brazil, the largest South American port, had just waged a militant but isolated struggle against an attempt by COSIPA, the Sao Paulo Steel Company, to go around the union hiring hall and use non-union labor at its terminal.
Resisting casualization, 25 Santos dockers occupied two ships April 2. Mass demonstrations bolstered the occupation. Strikes hit all Brazil's ports April 4 and tied up Santos from April 2-5. A violent assault by federal police and the Brazilian navy ended the occupation April 15, rekindling the strike in Santos. Around 66,000 dockers walked April 18 when Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande, Porto Alegre, Imbituba and Sao Francisco joined the strike. Still seeking negotiations, union officials called a truce April 19.
Talks began April 22 but produced little that day-and that was the last any of the participants at Montreal had heard from Santos. The Brazilian unionists' regular postings on the Internet stopped as of that day. Attempts to reach them by phone, fax and e-mail failed. Then May 10 the London shipping industry publication Lloyd's List reported that Brazilian employers were boasting of a new agreement that would cut costs by 30 percent. Dockers would now be paid by the container moved instead of by the hour and gang sizes would be reduced 20 percent for containerized cargo and 40 percent for bulk cargo. "The reduction in the number of stevedores is the breaking of the system of labor we have had for 30 to 40 years," the president of the port operators' association told Lloyd's. Federal police intervention convinced the dockworkers "Brazil meant business on the modernization front," the story said.
The silence emanating from the empty chair posed the chilling question "Who's next?" and simultaneously answered it. "Any one of us, unless we stand together." Inspired by the militant Liverpool dockers struggle, the conference was set for a no-holds-barred, action-oriented agenda. Debate focused on worldwide industrial action in defense of the Liverpool dockers, the symbol of resistance to capital's global attack on maritime workers. Delegate after delegate reported new government and industry anti-labor plans: deregulation and the abrogation of union contracts in Japan; the introduction of casual labor in Holland; privatized docks and a 66 percent reduction of wages in Italy.
The urgency of this struggle came home to the ILWU when a Canadian delegate reported that the Canadian Maritime Employers Association recently met with the Pacific Maritime Association in San Francisco and discussed trying the "Liverpool solution" on the West Coast.
"Based on an international perspective you must recognize that what is happening in Liverpool (deregulation and privatization) can happen in all ports unless this conference speaks directly to this issue by developing a program to counter the ship owner consortiums," said Jimmy Nolan of the Liverpool dockers.
Marvin Mfundisi, Vice President of the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU) of South Africa, aware of the Liverpool dockers' support of the anti-apartheid struggle, made an impassioned call for a "big worldwide action...for a Liverpool victory!" The conference unanimously passed a resolution calling for a 24-hour work stoppage or other industrial action, targeting shipping lines carrying scab Liverpool cargo like ACL and OOCL-owned CAST and Can Mar.
Another resolution asked that the International Transportation Workers Federation (ITF) Dockers Section meeting in Miami June 9 and 10 include a point on the Liverpool conflict and allow the Liverpool dockers to speak on their struggle. This too passed unanimously.
Liverpool stewards Terry Teague and Mike Carden commended the solidarity from unions around the world on the International Day of Action January 20. But they were clearly angry at their own TGWU officials, who continue to refuse to make the strike "official" and to attempt to negotiate a deal with Mersey Docks allowing the scabs to keep the dockers' jobs. Noticeably pained, Carden pointed out that truck drivers who cross their "unofficial" picket line daily are members of their own union.
Recognizing that a new Labour Government was just elected in Britain, delegates signed a letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair requesting he intercede to resolve the dispute. Nolan cautioned the delegates against wishful thinking, reminding them Blair was elected on a program that upheld the Conservatives' anti-union economic policies.
ILWU delegate Lynn Hummel, representing Los Angeles/Long Beach, the largest port at the conference, gave a stirring report on the latest developments with the coal export facility at LAXT and with Hugo Neu, which runs scrap metal docks in Los Angeles and Hawaii. Both are trying to avoid using ILWU labor. The international conference immediately forwarded messages of support to Los Angeles and Honolulu. The ILWU delegation, mandated by the Longshore Division Caucus, was led by Norm Parks (Local 8) and included Larry Hansen (Local 19), Lynn Hummel (Local 13), Pete Hendricksen (Local 200) and Jack Heyman (Local 10). ILWU Canadian delegates were Tom Dufresne, president, ILWU Canadian Area, Rick Rondpre, president of Local 500 and Doug Sigurdson, president of Local 514.
