ILWU Local 10 to Shut Down Oakland Port on May Day to Demand an End to Police Terror

The ILWU has a long history of protesting against racial justice, and on Friday, May 1st at 9:00 am, they will lead a shutdown of the Oakland Port, followed by a march to Oscar Grant plaza with community to demand an end to police terror.

“We have always been a militant union,” said Jack Heyman, of the ILWU (retired). “We integrated our union during the 1934 maritime strike, way before the passage of the Civil Rights bill in 1965, we refused a work a ship from South Africa to protest apartheid in 1984 and we shut down the local ports in 2010 to demand justice for Oscar Grant. This shutdown continues our tradition of connecting class struggle to race struggles and demanding justice for all.”

Racist police killings have created a state of racist police terror. According to a report by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, a Black man, woman or child s killed every 28 hours by police, security guards or vigilantes – and in 2015 that number is closer to one every 8 or 9 hours.

“I put forth the resolution to shut down the port because I am proud of my union’s history of resistance and I felt it was time labor came out loudly against police terror,” said Stacey Rodgers, of the ILWU who initiated the port action. “We are in an historic moment in our country. Labor has always been part of the historic moments in this country and we continue that legacy on May Day.”

Maritime employers initially refused to grant the union a stop work meeting on May 1st to protest the racist police killings. Longshore workers defied the employers and organized a march and rally with the Black community anyway. A week later employers agreed. Demonstrators will commence the action at 9:00 am at the Port. Following a short program, protestors will march to City Hall (Oscar Grant Plaza).

“Labor is one sector of the community that can truly shut this country down,” said Cat Brooks of ONYX/Anti Police-Terror Project. “If workers refuse to work, product doesn’t get made and money doesn’t exchange hands. The only way this country is going to take us seriously is if we interrupt their commerce and impact their bottom line. Simply appealing to their humanity doesn’t work. If that was the case, the epidemic of Black genocide at the hands of police would have ended decades ago.”

Supporting organizations also include the ONYX Organizing Committee, Alan Blueford Center for Justice, Community Ready Corps, Anti Police-Terror Project, ANSWER, Black Power Network, SEIU 1021, OEA, Workers World, Stop Mass Incarceration Network, Transport Workers Solidarity and the Love Not Blood Campaign.


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