ILWU Planning October Antiwar Effort

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/6533

ILWU Planning October Antiwar Effort - 08/07/07

One of the first unions to voice opposition to the war in Iraq was the International Warehouse and Longshore Union. In October two ILWU locals are calling for a labor conference to develop a plan of action against the war. Jesse Russell has this story:

By Jesse Russell

The ILWU has been one of the most vocal labor organizations opposing the war in Iraq. As plans to embark on the war ramped up they were some of the first to voice opposition. In 2006 they passed a resolution calling for a strike as long as the war continued. Now ILWU locals 10 and 34 are calling for a conference the weekend of October 20 in San Francisco so organized labor can mobilize a plan of action of solidarity for bringing an end to the occupation and war in Iraq. ILWU local 10 has called the “war on terror” a war on working people, civil liberties, and worker rights. The ILWU represent workers at the largest ports in the United States. Local 10 has a long history of opposition to war including refusal to load bombs in 1978 that were intended for Chile’s General Augusto Pinochet.

[Tom Joad]

1. Check out this site too... US Labor against the War

http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/