Note of explanation
The longshore contract on the US West Coast contains a clause that workers do not have to cross a picket line if it constitutes a threat to their health and safety!
LabourNet
SEPT. 29, 1997
When the Committee for Victory to the Liverpool Dockers set up its picket line Sunday at Berth 5 on the Oakland docks, we were determined that the scab cargo from Thamesport, England on the Neptune Jade would not be worked. PMA Arbitrator Sutliff ruled that this militant picket line is a bona fide health and safety beef on both the day and night shifts. The ship's operations have effectively been shutdown for 24 hours by picketing! And we intend to keep it going by whatever means is necessary until the Neptune Jade sails.
All longshore unions in Britain have been busted. Scabs now do the work for less than half the pay and no benefits. The ILWU has been supporting efforts to get jobs back for the 500 sacked Liverpool dockers. We agree with you and think the most effective way to win this beef is to ensure that cargo is not worked by scabs.
The plague of privatization is hitting longshoremen around the world. First the governments sell the docks to private companies who then exploit casuals by hiring them at low pay and no benefits to replace union longshoremen. In just the last month, following Britains' example, longshore unions have been busted or plans have been announced to bust unions in Brazil, Portugal, Holland, Italy, South Africa, Mexico....and now LAXT, a non union operator, moving onto the docks in LA, our biggest port on the West Coast.
This anti-labor scourge has got to be stopped. And the best way to stop it is to stop those international shipowners who traffic in scab cargo. International labor solidarity is the only way to win. As the Liverpool dockers say, "Never Cross A Picket Line!" Liverpool steward Bobby Morton, in a telephone call this morning, has expressed thanks to the Committee and to the rank and file longshoremen who refused to cross the picket line and work the scab cargo. "It has been a tremendous morale booster for our dockers who have been on strike for two years now", he said.
We are appealing to all longshoremen as well to honor our picket line.
CROSSING PICKET LINES CAN BE DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH!!
VICTORY TO THE LIVERPOOL DOCKERS!
COMMITTEE FOR VICTORY TO THE LIVERPOOL DOCKERS
415-641-4610
