Port Of Oakland Labor/Community Mass Picket Stops Loading Of Israeli Zim Ship For 24 Hours

Hey folks, I didn't get to make it out to the demonstration but it looked very powerful. Out of curiosity, about how many of the dock workers actively joined the picket line?

The dock workers gave up a day's pay to make possible this victory. That's the most effective picketline there is. WHEN LABOR WITHDRAWS ITS HAND, NOTHING MOVES. The non-dock workers' picketline was simply the support for the dock workers' actions.

As I understand it, the fact that an arbitrator declared the "picket line" a safety risk for dockworkers ensured that they could refuse to cross, and could go home with pay. However, it's not clear whether they would be paid time-and-a-half or double-time (depending on what they normally get paid on Sundays) or just straight-time. How many of the dockworkers stuck around to participate in the action? I imagine not many. Why not? I would sure be interested to hear what the people scheduled to work on Sunday would say about the whole thing. It's kind of a drag that anyone would claim that they "gave up a day's pay" for this action, which implies that there was deep support for it among the dockworkers that day, when, by all appearances, the opposite is true. The question is - how can actions like this going forward organically involve the dockworkers?

6/25 SF Labor Cable Show "Workers Stand Against Israeli Apartheid"

"Workers Stand Against Israeli Apartheid" 58.30 min.
Labor Video Project Production
http://www.laborvideo.org
laborvideo.blip.tv

Programmed on San Francisco Cable Channel 29 SF Commons Live Stream
Friday June 26, 2010 9:00 PM PST
http://www.bavc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1881&Itemid=1911

On June 20, 2010, the Labor Community Committee in Solidarity with the Palestinian People helped
organize mass pickets on the SSA docks in the Port Of Oakland to stop the loading and unloading of
the Zim ship Shenzehn when it sailed into the port.
The Transport Workers Solidarity Committee http://www.transportworkers.org which includes
longshore, rail and airline workers supported the call for a full labor boycott of Israeli
ships and air travel worldwide.
The mass picket line was successful in stopping the movement of cargo on the docks with
the solidarity of ILWU Local 10 and ILWU Local 34 members for 24 hours. These trade unionists
stood by and refused to cross the picket line. An ILWU-PMA arbitrator ruled that the picket
line was a health and safety issue which allowed them under their contract to
abide by the picket line. The documentary also focuses on the continuity with the ILWU
Local 10 & ILWU Local 34 anti-apartheid labor action against South Africa in 1984
when the South African ship Nedlloyd Kimberly arrived at Pier 80 in San Francisco.
This labor action against apartheid South Africa was an important milestone in isolating
and weakening the South African apartheid regime.
This solidarity action against the Zim line was also the first direct labor action in the United States
by working people in solidarity with the unions and people of Palestine.
Additional Footage by Oriana Bolden http://www.reelchange.org
John Parulis http://brightpathvideo.com
Marty Conlisk http://www.laborbeat.org
Production Of Labor Video Project
P.O. Box 720027, San Francisco, CA 94172 (415)282-1908
laborvideo.blip.tv http://www.laborvideo.org