The Dispatcher (ISSN 0012-3765) is published monthly except for a combined July/August issue, for $5.00 a year and 95 Vol. 62, No. 8 $10.00 a year for non-members by the ILWU, 1188 Franklin St., San Francisco, CA 94109. Periodical postage paid at San September 2004 Francisco, CA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Dispatcher, 1188 Franklin St., San Francisco, CA 94109. www.ilwu.org INSIDE IBU Southern California: Union-busting environmental hazard . .3 Dutch workers protest government austerity plan . .5 ILWU Longshore History and Traditions Conference . .6 ILWU election endorsements . .8-9 Brother Jerry Martin killed in car wreck . .11 2• September 2004 Inside Line BEYOND TRADITIONAL HISTORY “Philosophers have interpreted his- tory in many different ways. The point, however, is to change it.” Crisis and solutions History as we learn it in school text books is the story of great men By James Spinosa growth from port communities and elected officials as long as the and great wars determining the out- ILWU International President come. Rarely if ever is the centuries ports are seen as the giant industrial pollution generator. We must old basic conflict in human society he shipping industry on the West Coast is in a crisis, with make every incremental move possible to clean up our industry. ILWU between the rulers and the workers dozens of ships backed up at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long members have a real stake in this—before these emissions become referred to. Yet from the ancient TBeach, turn-around times twice as long as usual and conges- pollutants in the community they are in the air we breathe at work all Greek democracies that were based tion on the docks exacerbating pollution and safety problems. day. And we live in these communities. We want to come home from on a slave economy, to the feudal Diverting ships to other West Coast ports has not relieved the prob- work to healthy families and clean neighborhoods. societies where landlord royalty lem in Southern California, but only spread it to those other docks. But terminal operators resisted the night gates proposal arguing, kept serfs in line, to capitalists The entire cargo transportation system is overwhelmed, the current with some legitimacy, that truckers wouldn’t use them because they exploiting wage workers, humanity infrastructure and mode of operation pushed past its capabilities. couldn’t drop off their loads with warehouses closed at those hours. has too long an historical tradition It’s not as if this wasn’t foreseen or isn’t the obvious result of So shippers, especially those with large warehouses, need to do their of oppressor and oppressed to be policy decisions. Industry analysts have for the last decade been fore- part and have their receiving operations working night hours. ignored. And that’s what the history of casting annual double-digit percentage growth in the number of con- Still, the terminal operators never took the night gates notion the ILWU—the history that shaped tainers hitting West Coast ports, with only 9-11 and the Pacific seriously until California Assembly member Alan Lowenthal threat- the traditions of this union—are all Maritime Association’s lockout in 2002 providing temporary speed ened legislation to force the matter. Then they came forward with their about and what the Longshore bumps. The free trade agreements U.S. government officials have own “voluntary” night gate program to start in November. So Division’s latest seminar on its his- been promulgating have had the predicted effects—manufacturing Lowenthal withdrew his bill. But now that plan is being postponed tory and traditions held in Septem- jobs have been sent to Asia in search of cheap labor and since little until next March. ber was about (see story pages 6-7). is made here any more, all those goods must be shipped in. China’s The reason for the delay, say terminal operators, is the labor It is essential the rank and file have monster economy continues to export at an accelerating rate and shortage at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. But that is the an understanding of that history Wal-Mart’s Asian-made Christmas goods could by themselves over- result of poor management planning. and that they keep constant, vigi- whelm just about any Since last February lant watch over that heritage. port. And since the the leadership of South- The bloody birth of the union in the 1934 strike, with its six industry as a whole ern California longshore deaths and hundreds of injuries has done little to coor- We need to Local 13 has been coastwise and the ferocity of the dinate and prepare for requesting PMA bring 1948 strike, with the ILWU’s first it besides build bigger 2,000 casuals up to reg- Taft-Hartley injunction and the in- and bigger ships, the start utilizing the istered “B” status and your-face rank-and-file rejection of doomsday scenario sign up 5,000 new government coercion—both ending industry analysts proj- casuals. But it took until in great victory—seem sometimes ect “if something isn’t infrastructure we August, when the peak to be heroic myths, legendary tales done soon” are coming season crunch was of a time when people of greater true. upon us, for the employ- stature dared defining battles and have to its fullest For more than ers to concede the wis- emerged victorious. But 2002 served notice that the three years now the capacity, and dom of the union and ever-consolidating global companies ILWU has been propos- begin promoting, hiring that make up the ILWU’s employer ing solutions, talking and training. The prob- group are still willing to take great about long-term infra- that means lem is that it takes risks to bust this union. Their lock- structure needs and months to train that out broke the cargo supply chain short-term fixes to get many people and get and it took them months to fix it. by in the meantime. But running the them working effectively The ship owners and terminal oper- the ship owners and on the ground. By then ators lost millions, their customers, terminal operators who terminals 24/7. the peak season will be the shipper and retailers, lost even make up our employer over. more, and the damage to the econo- group, the PMA, have Another bad man- my is difficult to calculate. They backed off and the union won an ignored and resisted agement decision also agreement with a six-year extension our proposals. This has contributes to the so- of its Cadillac health plan, the to change if the industry both the union and the employers depend on called “labor shortage.” As the railroads restricted the number of con- biggest pension increases in the his- is going to survive and grow, if our port communities are going go be tainers they would accept from each terminal and the docks backed tory of the American labor move- healthy and sustainable and if the American economy is to thrive. up, container yards had to switch from “wheeled” operations, where ment and jurisdiction over the new Clearly there has been a large underinvestment in the trans- containers are stored on chassis and are ready to roll, to “decked” computer technology, but they’re portation infrastructure that needs to be addressed. The railroads operations, where containers are stacked three, four and five high. not done yet. need more locomotives, rail cars, track and skilled workers. Trucking Decked operations require six times more skilled cargo-handling At the seminar, after the aca- needs expanded highways and rigs that burn cleaner fuels. Stevedore equipment operators to run top picks, side picks and strads. The demics praised the union, and the companies need off-dock terminals and staging areas to relieve con- union has been calling for more members to be trained on the heavy historians had recounted its glory gestion and cargo-handling equipment that burns cleaner fuels. equipment, but the PMA has been slow to respond. and the international unionist guests paid homage to the ILWU, This is admittedly a huge investment, some of which must come The employers’ solution has been to ask workers to double back, the scary part was the last day’s from the industry, but much of which must come from government. to work two shifts back-to-back. But fatigue is a major factor in acci- look to the future—the scenes of But we’re not likely to get that kind of money until we’ve made the dents. And the congested docks with containers stacked high and the automated ports of Rotterdam most of what we have now. And once funding is secured, these proj- more heavy equipment running around are raising the risks of an and Singapore where so few work- ects will still take time to complete and the crisis is upon us now. So already dangerous job. ers run operations larger than the we need to implement some immediate short-term solutions. The last time we saw a situation this bad was in 2002 when Los Angeles/Long Beach complex. We need to start utilizing the infrastructure we have to its fullest we had a record five deaths in five months. We are not going to pay Yes, you have the best wages, capacity, and that means running the terminals 24/7. For several the price again to save employers from their own bad decision- conditions and benefits of any work- years now the ILWU has been advocating night gates. Spreading the making, especially since we warned them well in advance and ers.