International Committee for the Victory to the Liverpool Dockers
c/o ILC, P.O. Box 40459, San Francisco, CA 94140. Tel. (415) 641-4440

Vancouver (Canada) Longshore Workers Refuse to
Cross Picket Line to Unload Scab Cargo!
Neptune Jade Sails for Yokahama, Japan!
Another Gigantic Victory for the Liverpool Dockers!

SAN FRANCISCO, Saturday, October 4. At noon today, our Committee received word that the members of ILWU Longshore Local 500 in Vancouver, Canada, refused to cross a picket line set up at 7:50 a.m. this morning by approximately 20 supporters of the Liverpool dockers. The Vancouver picketers were alerted late Friday afternoon that the Neptune Jade, which had been unable to unload its cargo in Oakland, was headed for Vancouver and would be docking in that port at about 8 a.m. Saturday morning. The shipping company had hoped to unload its scab cargo in Vancouver and have it shipped over the road to the San Francisco Bay Area.

"Considering the reception the Neptune Jade had received from our American brothers and sisters, we were surprised that the shipping company would try to discharge its cargo in a Canadian port, when they knew that the ILWU would have no part of it," said Richard Rondpre, president of ILWU Local 500 in Vancouver.

Confronted with yet another militant picket line and the refusal of the Canadian longshore workers to cross the line and break the solidarity that had been forged in Oakland, the company apparently decided to cut its losses, ordering the Neptune Jade to set sail immediately for Yokahama, Japan!

The San Francisco chapter of the International Committee for the Victory to the Liverpool Dockers, upon receiving this news, sent a message of congratulations to the Vancouver picketers and longshore workers for their determined effort in solidarity with the embattled Liverpool dockers.

Our Committee strongly believes that this victory in Oakland and Seattle must be extended. The Neptune Jade is not the only ship carrying scab cargo from Liverpool or from scab ports in England. It is imperative that supporters of trade union rights in ports across the globe send a signal to all the shipping companies and shipping alliances, like the signal that was sent in Oakland and Vancouver, that they are fair targets as long as they are trading in Liverpool and other British scab ports.

These shipping companies could get on the phone tomorrow to the Mersey Harbor and Docks Co, which fired the 500 Liverpool dockers, demanding the reinstatement of the dockers. As one of the chants that resonated on the picket line in Oakland so aptly put it: "Neptune Jade, Get on the Phone! Tell Mersey Docks to Reinstate the Dockers, and We¹ll Go Home!"

For further information, you can call our Committee at (415) 641-4440 or 641-4610, or you can visit the Labournet web page at www.labournet.org.uk