SEATTLE (Reuters) - The union representing U.S. West Coast dock workers said it was temporarily closing down ports all along the coast Tuesday in sympathy with protests against the World Trade Organization meeting being held here. “All the ports on the West Coast are being closed down today; most of them are being closed from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., except for Seattle, Tacoma and San Francisco Bay area, which are closing from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.,” said International Longshore & Warehouse Union spokesman Steve Stallone.
Other major ports such as Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., were being affected as well as smaller ports up and down the coast, he said.
The Pacific Maritime Association, a trade group for shippers, said, however, the stoppages were limited to a few West Coast ports.
“At this time, we are experiencing some work stoppages in a few West Coast ports,” a spokeswoman said. “However, most ports are working. We are reviewing the circumstances of each work stoppage and are considering the appropriate response under our contract.”
In San Francisco, longshore workers opposed to the WTO staged a small protest, saying their work stoppage was aimed at exposing the dangers posed by the world trade body.
“The WTO is going to undermine the laws that we have already established in this country,” Jadine Solis, one of several dozen protesting workers holding signs and chanting slogans at the Embarcadero waterfront, told a television reporter.
The San Francisco protesters echoed demonstrators thronging the streets in Seattle, depicting the WTO as a cartel of corporate interests aimed at boosting “unfair” trade at the expense of Third World countries.
“If we have fair trade...we can create middle classes in those fledgling democracies,” Bobby Guillory said.
Stallone said the union was trying to promote “fair trade vs. free trade.”
“The labor movement feels that the free trade policies of the WTO basically destroy workers’ rights environmental protections and democracy,” Stallone said.
