International longshore unions support
ILWU,
tell
Bush to butt out
At its annual Congress in
The international docker unions,
that have contracts with most of the same companies that compose the PMA, have
seen the same kind of employer/government collusion against longshore unions
before. In a situation just four years ago that foreshadowed Bush’s threats to
send the National Guard to occupy and operate West Coast docks, the Australian
government sent federal troops to seize port facilities in that country in 1998.
The Maritime Union of Australia
united their national labor movement and galvanized international
support—including the ILWU’s refusal to work the first and only scab-loaded
ship to call on a U.S. West Coast port in May 1998—to stop that threat and
protect the jobs of their members.
“This situation is not a
surprise to any of these docker unions,” said
The docker union leaders also sent
a letter to Bush telling him in part that “Negotiations on the future of the
longshore industry and issues such as job security and technological change
should take place through free collective bargaining between employees and
management, without heavy-handed intervention by government officials at the
request of corporate executives.”
Negotiations between the ILWU and
the PMA were recessed after
For more information contact ILWU Communications Director
cwa39521
International Transport Workers Federation Resolution
ILWU DISPUTE
This 40th Congress of the ITF, meeting in
CONSIDERING the ILWU’s traditional support for other ITF
affiliates and its contributions to international solidarity and the ITF Flag of
Convenience Campaign
NOTING WITH GREAT CONCERN the current attempts by the
Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) to break the power and strength of the ILWU,
which already has been criticized by the ITF as a serious case of union busting
NOTING WITH GREAT CONCERN reports of the USA Government to
consider the introduction of new legislation aimed at restricting and even
eliminating ILWU’s legal rights to collective bargaining and to strike
DEPLORING reports of plans by the US Administration to use
troops to operate the ports in case of a strike, which would be a most serious
violation of ILO standards
RECALLING the ITF’s International Solidarity Contract by
which affiliated port workers unions pledged support and solidarity for disputes
arising from union busting
REAFFIRMING the Resolution in support of the ILWU adopted
by the ITF Dockers’ Section Meeting and the Fair Practices Committee in June
2002
RESOLVES to give maximum support and solidarity to the ILWU
in its present struggle, and to other unions affected by union busting policies
by employers and governments and to take whatever action they can within their
national laws until the ILWU achieves a fair settlement.
Submitted by: National
George W. Bush, President
Dear President Bush,
Almost daily we read about renegade corporate executives
who have invaded
We are shocked now to hear of your administration’s plans
to intervene in the current U.S. West Coast longshore labor-management
negotiations at the behest of multinational shipping, retail and agri -business
corporations, against the thousands of hard-working men and women who operate
these ports. We understand that your
administration has threatened to strip workers of existing legal rights, bring
injunctions against their union, the ILWU, and even send in military troops to
take over the ports.
It is ominous to us that some in your administration would
use post-September 11 security concerns as grounds for helping corporations like
Walmart and Maersk Sealand intimidate port workers.
The ILWU and its members always have stood on the side of democracy and
human rights, from Nelson Mandela’s struggle against apartheid in
We want you to know that in this time, when freedom and
democracy are being tested across the globe, we will stand with the ILWU and the
West Coast port workers in defense of the rights and freedoms of workers
everywhere. We
urge you to repudiate any attempt to exploit the war on terrorism to destroy the
good jobs of workers who operate some of the most secure, safe and productive
ports in the world.
Negotiations on the future of the longshore industry and
issues such as job security and technological change should take place through
free collective bargaining between employees and management, without
heavy-handed intervention by government officials at the request of corporate
executives.
The right of workers to negotiate collectively with their
employers without interference or intimidation by governments or militaries is a
fundamental democratic freedom, one recognized in the UN Charter of Human
Rights. If such freedoms are
outlawed, then the terrorists of 9/11 will have won, and the sacrifices and
suffering of thousands of working people since that tragic day will have been in
vain.
Sincerely,
Global Coalition for Justice and Security on