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Pickets Target War Profiteers at Port of Oakland on May 19th

by Jonathan Nack
Organizers accuse American President Lines (APL) and Stevedoring Services of America (SSA), which are both served by Eagle Marine Services, with war profiteering.
640_portactionposter.jpg
Pickets Target War Profiteers at Port of Oakland on May 19th

by Jonathan Nack

Protesters will descend on the Port of Oakland on Saturday, May 19th, to picket companies they charge are engaged in war profiteering. The picketing will begin early at 7 a.m. in the morning at the APL Terminal, 1579 Middle Harbor Road (see map below.)

Organizers accuse American President Lines (APL) and Stevedoring Services of America (SSA), which are both served by Eagle Marine Services, with war profiteering. Eagle Marine Services has a contract to run the Concord Naval Weapons Station which brings in $975 Million annually. Organizers also claim that the Port does $33 Billion in business a year, yet contributes nothing to local schools and social services.

The picket is called by the Port Action Committee, an ad hoc grouping of anti-war, labor, and community organizations. Port Action organized a rally on April 7th in front of the Port office building which commemorated the four year anniversary of the day Oakland police attacked non-violent anti-war protesters at the Port. (Oakland Tribune article
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/04/09/18393018.php )

The call for the Port picket has received endorsements from: Oakland Education Association; Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace & Justice; United for Peace & Justice, Bay Area; Oakland Green Party; Veterans for Peace; Vietnam Veterans Against the War; Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace (LMNOP) (LMNOP); Northern California Committees of Correspondence for Democracy & Socialism; Ella Baker Center; Idriss Stelley Foundation; and Cindy Sheehan.

For more info contact PortAction [at] riseup.net.

§Map of location of Picket at APL
by Jonathan Nack
mapofapl.jpg
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Comments (Hide Comments)
by Trudi
A few of us weren't so clear earlier, but the port in general, and APL are open and longshoremen are working on the weekends. Sometimes activity can drop off, but this apparently is a real picket and not just a symbolic picket on the weekend.
Can someone inform everyone later on what ship might be in next week? The Alameda naval base is closed, and Oakland isn't located near a large army base like Tacoma is situated by Fort Lewis. However, the south bay has a huge concentration of west coast military hardware contractors - Northrop, Lockheed, Kaiser, Raytheon, BAE, General dynamics. Who knows how this stuff gets transported.
by Saunders Masciandaro (sandy_masciandaro [at] yahoo.com)
First off let me say that I support what the intent of the protest is trying to do, but.....

1. There is no relationship between SSA and APL/EAGLE MARINE SERVICES, they are competitors.
2. Eagle Marine Services does not have the contract to manage Concord Naval Weapons Station, MTC does.
3. Currently APL will not have any vessels in on the 19th.

I suggest that you correct your posters and info to reflect the proper information and that you visit the true "war profiteers" MTC and Maersk-Sealand on the 19th.
by Dan L.
Saunders is right. The information about APL, Eagle Marine and SSA is correct. Also, why isn't part of this focused in Maersk Lines? According to the Military Sealift Command website, our government has awarded more than $20 Million dollars in transportation contracts to Maersk Lines, a FOREIGN company!
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