Reply #35: The Longview longshore workers protest is grassroots in the tradition of the real Boston Tea Party

[Better Believe It]

The Fighting Side of Me
Organized Labor’s Great Day at Longview
by DAVID MACARAY
September 9, 2011

Yesterday, September 8, a group of longshoremen estimated at between 500-1,000, all members of the ILWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Union), stormed the gates a Longview grain terminal (located in southwestern Washington state) to protest the company’s (EGT Development) anti-union policies. The ILWU insists that the EGT contract, along with the provisions of the Northwest Grainhandlers Agreement, guarantee ILWU representation.

After overwhelming Longview’s security guards, the longshoremen allegedly dumped grain, broke the windows of the guard shack, and severed the brake lines of several railroad cars. Police were called in and 19 arrests were made. Meanwhile, dockworkers in Seattle, Tacoma and Everett walked off their jobs in support of the Longview action.

The Longshoremen are understandably outraged. Besides the prospect of losing jobs that were promised to them, the ILWU is fearful of the long-term effects this audacious end-run could have. They fear that EGT will break the relatively weak IUOE (Local 701), and that after busting this union and coming away perceived as the victor (a la Ronald Reagan with PATCO), they will move against the ILWU, undermining contracts up and down the west coast.

And as for those upright, uptight citizens who will condemn the Longview demonstration as “lawless” or “renegade,” they need to recalibrate. They need to see this thing for what it is. The Longview uprising is self-determination personified. It’s American, it’s patriotic, it’s grassroots, and its antecedents can be traced back to the Boston Tea Party. The real Boston Tea Party. Indeed, Longview is what the so-called Tea Party movement wishes it were.

Please read the full article at:

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/09/09/organized-labor%e2%80%99s-great-day-at-longview/