May Day Protestors Affect Bay Area Waterfront

ILWU Local 10, some of whose members work with Occupy Oakland in two port shutdowns last fall, conducted a daytime work stoppage at the Port of Oakland May 1 as part of annual May Day protests.

Local 10’s rank-and-file members did not work the eight-hour day shift at the port in observance of International Workers Day, commonly known as May Day.

May 1 is observed by labor activists and others as International Workers Day, and the day is typically marked in parts of the world with marches, protests, walk outs and one-day strikes. Oakland and Los Angeles are West Coast cities that typically have heavy turnout for May Day activities.

This marks the third time in seven months that the Port of Oakland has been affected by protests and labor unrest. Last November, about 3,000 protestors associated with the Occupy movement were successful in shutting down swing shift operations at the port for hours. In December, about 1,500 Occupy protestors disrupted port operations by marching on terminals.

Groups Plan EGT Grain Ship Protest

The Occupy movement and International Longshore and Warehouse Union both say they’re planning to protest at the Port of Longview’s EGT terminal to coincide with the arrival of the facility’s first grain ship, but the two groups differ drastically on their planned approaches.

In a letter to union locals last week regarding the planned protest, ILWU President Bob McEllrath said that the ship, which is due in later this month though the exact date is still undetermined, is expected to be escorted in from the mouth of the Columbia River by the US Coast Guard, and then protected by multiple law enforcement agencies.

He urged that caution be taken so that events don’t spiral out of control.

“Any showing of support for Local 21 at the time that a vessel calls at the EGT facility must be measured to ensure that the West Coast ports have sufficient manpower so as not to impact cargo movement for PMA member companies,” he wrote in the Jan. 3-dated letter.

“A call for a protest of EGT is not a call for a shutdown of West Coast ports and must not result in one,” he wrote, referencing the Dec. 12 protests by the Occupy movement that impeded cargo traffic at some ports along the North American West Coast.

Occupy Longview spokesman Paul Nipper, however, has said his group’s members would actively try to prevent the ship from being loaded and has called on Occupy members from across the country to participate.

The protests would be the latest in a series in a continued labor action against EGT, which is a joint venture between Bunge Ltd, ITOCHU International and STX Pan Ocean.

Members and supporters of ILWU Local 21 picketed the facility throughout last summer over labor issues, with the local saying its contract with the Port of Longview requires that the 25 to 35 jobs inside the terminal go to unionized labor.

The company, however, says its lease agreement with the port does not specify ILWU labor. It employs members of a different union, which represents operating engineers. A federal trial on the dispute is expected to begin in March.

During the previous pickets, some protesters stormed the facility, cut brake lines on rail cars and dumped grain from the cars, among other things, which led to dozens of people being arrested on trespassing and disorderly conduct charges.

In September, the union was ordered by a U.S. district judge in Tacoma to pay $250,000 in damages.

Oakland City Council Rejects Port Protection Law

A resolution that would have required the city of Oakland to use stronger measures to protect the port in the future in the event of disruptions like the recent Occupy movement demonstrations, was rejected by the Oakland City Council this week.

The proposed legislation, which would have mandated that the city use any and all lawful tools at the city’s disposal to keep protesters from shutting down the port failed to move forward after half of the eight Council members – Jane Brunner, Rebecca Kaplan, Pat Kernighan and Nancy Nadal – voted not to hear it during the Dec. 20 Council meeting.

Brunner indicated during the meeting that her opposition was due to the potential cost the city would incur. She said she’d been told by Oakland police chief Howard Jordan that protecting the port during a two-day protest would cost the city about $1.5 million.

“Police really help us in this city, but they’re not the answer for a social movement,” she said.

The item needed at least six votes to move forward for full consideration by the Council because it had been placed on the agenda less than 10 days before the meeting.

Despite the failure of the proposal, Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente – who wrote the proposal with Councilwoman Libby Schaaf, a former Port of Oakland public affairs director – has said he will reintroduce the legislation at some point in the future.

The proposal was created in response to two recent protests at the port. During the Dec. 12 “Occupy the Ports” movement, where major ports along the West Coast were targeted, four of the Port of Oakland’s seven shipping terminals were blocked by protesters throughout the day.

Port officials said the disruption cost the port and its companies between $4 million and $8 million in lost productivity.

Occupy Movement Temporarily Curtails West Coast Port Traffic

The Occupy movement’s one-day action to disrupt the flow of container traffic at seaports on the West Coast of North America led to slowed, although not completely halted, cargo movement at multiple locations.

One of the most visibly affected was the Port of Oakland, North America’s third-largest seaport, where more than 1,000 marchers blocked multiple terminals at various points during the day, including two APL-run locations and a Hanjin terminal.

The Oakland protest even spilled over into the following day, as more than 100 Occupy demonstrators continued to march and attempt to block drayage truck drivers from entering and exiting terminals. No incidents of violence were reported.

Port operations in Oakland continued Tuesday “with minimal disruptions” due to still-ongoing protests, according to communications manager Robert Bernardo.

In Portland, the port shut down two terminals and police arrested two people who were found with a gun and sword.

After the early morning incident, terminals 5 and 6 were closed, and more than 300 workers were told not to report to work for the day.

Occupy Portland spokesperson Kari Koch said the two who were arrested were not part of the movement’s protest.

During the demonstration, terminals 4, 5 and 6 were targeted as part of a campaign against grain exporter EGT and SSA Marine, which is partially owned by Goldman Sachs, one of the Occupy movement’s targets.

At the Port of Seattle, 11 demonstrators were arrested on Harbor Island during a sometimes-violent mid-afternoon protest that included people throwing items at police and law enforcement pepper spraying unruly crowd members.

The total number of participants was estimated by local media at more than 500, many of whom demonstrated at terminals 5 and 18.

Although there were reports that the evening shifts at the two terminals were disrupted, the port said in a statement that the impact to cargo movement was “minimal.”

At the Port of Long Beach, heavy rain throughout the morning may have curtailed the number of demonstrators, as only an estimated 300 people showed up for a 6 am protest at Pier J, where they were met by a police blockade.

About an hour after gathering at a dock facility owned by SSA Marine, police ordered the protesters to disperse and began a long, slow process of marching in column formation toward the crowd in order to move it away from the terminal.

At least one arrest was made, but no violent incidents were reported. The protesters managed to block employee parking areas, but did not block trucks according to police. According to the port, all terminals remained open during the day and the protest had concluded by 10 am.

Occupy the Ports protests were also conducted at ports in Hueneme, California; Longview, Washington; Anchorage, Alaska; and San Diego, among other places.

Occupy Movement Factions Reveal Port Shutdown Plan Details

Flyers and other forms of information being distributed by members of the Occupy movement have given insight into what the loosely-knit group’s plans are for staging demonstrations at ports along the West Coast on Dec. 12.

According to Occupy LA, demonstrators will gather in Long Beach at 5 am at Harry Bridges Park on the day of the protest and then march to the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. A second march is planned for 5 pm.

Occupy Oakland members are planning to converge at the West Oakland BART station at 5:30 am, and then march to the Port of Oakland. A second march and rally is planned for the start of the port’s 5 pm swing shift.

In the Pacific Northwest, Seattle Occupiers are planning to meet at Westlake Park in downtown at 1 pm and then march to the port for a picket and blockade. Portland protesters are planning to meet at 6 am at Kelly Point Park to organize and march, then converge at the same park again at 4 pm to prepare for a “shift blockade.”

In Vancouver, British Columbia, organizers say a 12-hour shutdown is planned, starting with a noon meeting at Callister Park.

San Diego’s Occupiers plant to meet at Chicano Park in the city’s Barrio Logan area at 6 am, and then march to the port for a daylong blockade.

Occupiers in the port cities of Anchorage, Alaska and Tacoma, Washington are also planning rallies and demonstrations for Dec. 12.

All the actions are being planned without official support from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, whose leadership has said it does not condone the possible work stoppage.

However, members of the Doro-Chiba railway workers union in Japan will demonstrate on Dec. 12, according to Occupy, as a show of solidarity with the West Coast port shutdown.

They’re expected to picket a facility of Japanese grain products marketer Itochu, which is a partner in EGT, the joint venture that operates a grain export terminal at the Port of Longview.

West Coast Ports Bracing for Possible Occupy Shutdown

Ports up and down the West Coast say they are preparing for the possibility of a mass demonstration later this month, even as the union representing longshore workers says it won’t support the protest.

Officials with the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland and elsewhere all say they are mapping out strategies to deal with the expected demonstration, which is planned for Dec. 12 by the Occupy movement.

The movement, which protests wealth inequality, already succeeded in a port protest on Nov. 2, when thousands of demonstrators managed to shut down the Port of Oakland for about four hours.

Now the movement says it will expand its actions to include ports from Vancouver, Canada down to San Diego during a one-day action, starting at 5 am on a Monday. If it transpires, the effect could be temporarily devastating, particularly at LA/Long Beach: the port complex handles an estimated $1 billion in imports and exports daily.

Occupy has specifically said it is targeting terminal operators EGT and SSA, because of perceived mistreatment of workers in South America and of ‘gross exploitation’ of port truckers.

“EGT … is Wall Street on the waterfront,” Barucha Peller of the West Coast Port Blockade Assembly of Occupy Oakland said. “This is our coordinated response against the (top) one percent (of the wealthy). On Dec. 12, we will show our collective power through pinpointed economic blockade.”

But despite previously expressing written and verbal support for the movement, ILWU leadership says it does not authorize dockworkers’ participation in the planned shutdown because it is by a third-party group and has not been vetted by the union.

Occupy Movement Plans Port Action

The Occupy movement, which has staged sit-ins at cities across the US, says it is now planning to stage a Dec. 12 shutdown of all West Coast seaports.

“We’re shutting down these ports because of the union busting and attacks on the working class by the one percent: the firing of port truckers organizing at SSA terminals in LA; the attempt to rupture (International Longshore and Warehouse) union jurisdiction in Longview, Washington,” the protesters said in a statement released Nov. 28.

The ILWU, however, says no decision has been made regarding whether to support such an action.

ILWU President Robert McEllrath said although the union shares the Occupiers’ concerns and agrees with its overall message, no vote has been taken by the unions’ membership on whether to support the proposed shutdown, which would begin at 5 a.m. at the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland and other West Coast port cities.

The Occupy movement has accused the union of backing off its previously-expressed support.

“President McEllrath on Oct. 5 publicized his ‘solidarity with Occupy Wall Street’ statement. But now the ILWU International officers are contradicting themselves,” reads a statement that was sent to port workers by the Occupy movement. “ILWU is bottom up, not top down. Occupy’s enemies … are ILWU’s enemies, too.”

On Nov. 2, the Occupy movement was successful in shutting down nighttime operations at the Port of Oakland for a few hours when a crowd estimated at over 4,000 walked from the city’s business district to the port.