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Longshore Division stands with Costa Rican dockersFor more than 20 years now,dockworkers around theworld have been fightingefforts to privatize ports, bustunions and turn good jobs intoday labor. From Liverpool toSydney they have battled governmentsand corporations workinghand-in-glove. Now the unionizedlongshoremen in the Portsof Limón and Moín on CostaRica’s Atlantic Coast have takena stand—and the ILWU CoastLongshore Division is standingwith them.The Costa Rican governmentbegan its privatization campaignaround 10 years ago. Despite massiveprotests and strikes by students andworkers, the country’s telecommunicationsand electric companies privatized.In 2006, the port of Caldera wasprivatized. The union was destroyed,and working conditions took a nosedive. The International TransportWorkers’ Federation (ITF) reports that33 former Caldera workers committedsuicide.“United we stand, divided we fall”Longshore Local 14 Secretary-TreasurerPerry Bressman went the extramile to get the ILWU’s views out to thecommunity. He sent this op-ed to theEureka, CA Times-Standard, whichran it on Feb. 25, 2010. The Dispatcheredited the piece slightly forspace. You can read the whole op-edon line at http://www.times-standard.com/ci_14468285?IADID=.When it comes to workers’rights and fairlabor practices, theILWU has been recognized asone of the strongest labor unionsin the world.On Feb. 1, a handful of longshoremenset up (informational only) picketsto protest PG&E’s boast that it washelping our local economy. The truthof the matter is they brought in outsidehelp, who most likely took their incomewith them. If PG&E seeks futureendeavors in our community, weILWU Canada concluded its 31st Convention(21st Biennial) on March 26,as the Dispatcher was going to press.On the last day of the Convention,delegates elected Local 517 memberMandy Webster to the position of VicePresident-at-Large. This is the first timea member of Local 517 has reachednational office within the ILWU Canada.The local represents office, trades,maintenance and marine staff of FraserSurrey Docks Container Terminal, theNanaimo Port Authority, Port MetroVancouver, Squamish Break-Bulk Terminal,and Westshore Coal Terminal.ILWU Local 500 voted a $10 permember per month assessment tosupport the families locked out byRio Tinto in Boron. Other CanadianThe dockers in Limón and Moínare the country’s last holdouts againstprivatization. But two years ago, theCosta Rican government took out a$72.5 million loan from the WorldBank to “modernize” these ports.The dockworkers’ union, SINTRA-JAP, wouldn’t get with the program.Two union activists were arrested anddetained on Feb. 24, according to theITF. The next day, about 140 peopleblocked police from getting intothe port and taking over the unionoffice. Finally, the Costa Rican governmentremoved the union’s democraticallyelected leadership, installed newofficers and froze the union’s bankaccounts.The ITF, the AFL-CIO SolidarityCenter, the International Labor Organization,UNI Global Union and the CentralAmerican Confederation of Workers(the coordinating body for unionsin the region) have all protested thegovernment’s action, as did the ILWUCoast Longshore Division.The Division purchased a two-pagead in Costa Rica’s leading daily newspaper,La Nación, to publish a letter ofsupport for SINJATRAP.deserve a straightforward, transparentapproach with no surprise endings.The ILWU desires a workingrelationship with all locals and businessesin general. The longshoremenunloaded PG&E’s engines and generatorsquicker than they had expected.PG&E then hired Bragg Crane to bringin their own equipment from out ofthe area and bypass longshoremen.We discovered this company has hadproblems with unions up and downthe coast and is used to skirting aroundlongshoremen.The ILWU was led to believe BraggCrane would consider us, until wenoticed them moving cargo to beunloaded at property owned by theHarbor Commission earlier than whatwe were told. It appears they wereattempting to bypass paying longshorewages….By Tuesday, a busload of longshoremenfrom Stockton and SanFrancisco traveled to Eureka to signifysolidarity with us. The president of theILWU Canada elects new VPlongshore locals are also consideringmonthly assessments, and the Conventioncollected another $540 tohelp them by doing a 50/50 draw atits dance March 25. A fuller report onthe Convention is planned for nextmonth’s Dispatcher.The Coast Longshore Division published this letter as a two-page ad in thenational daily newspaper of Costa Rica. The headline reads, “Letter of Supportfrom the Dockworkers on the West Coast of the United States to SINJATRAP.”SINJATRAP is the union that represents the longshore workers in the AtlanticCoast Ports of Limón and Moín.coastwide ILWU scheduled meetingsand contacted the Inlandboatmen’sUnion. A member from their unionhollered from the barge that they wouldstand aside when the barge docked andhonor our pickets.Yes, we had pickets on the bay,circling the tug and barge. We hadpeople from just about every large porton the coast calling Eureka to ask whatwas going on up there. San Franciscolongshoremen distributed fliers outsidePG&E headquarters. Representativesfrom other local unions broughtEureka’s longshoremen doughnuts andcoffee, and the local support from allof the passersby honking their hornsin support was greatly appreciated.Some even stopped to help carry signs,and a church brought all the men abagged lunch.By the second week, the HarborCommission agreed to an emergencymeeting with our union, as well asother unions, to have dialog as to whereThe letter calls on the Costa Ricangovernment to restore the union’srightful leaders and to negotiate ingood faith over modernization of theport. It also demands that the U.S.government “recognize and cease itscorruptive role in promoting thepowerful economic sectors that want toput an end to Costa Rican trade unionismin the name of profits and plunder.”It ends with a strong statement ofsolidarity:“Dockworkers worldwide are of astrong and unique fraternity that transcendsnationalism. Cargo vessels andtheir owners are not dependent on anyone country. Neither are dockworkers.An injury to one is an injury to all.”we are headed with future work inour bay….We spent two weeks protestingduring the coldest, wettest weather ofthe year, because we don’t intend toforget what longshoremen have foughtfor over the years, and we will not beignored. If this was a sanctioned strike,no port on this coast would recognizeany cargo from any tug, barge or shipthat moved dirty cargo and crossed ourpicket line.Smaller, private docks are poppingup and moving into the handling ofcargo, with the intentions of eliminatinglongshoremen. If they ever got big,the larger ports would be out of thequestion.The bottom line is, the longshoremenin Eureka are here to stay, andwe will make do no matter what happens.What we are saying for the restof the county who desire to keep jobslocal is that we need to stick together.United we stand, divided we fall.— by Perry BressmanRio Tinto execs have their millions.The locked-out families inBoron have us.Our contributions will help them keep up their fight. Please begenerous.Write checks to “Labor Community Services” with “Boron Lockout”in the memo portion. Mail to: Labor Community Services, 2130 W. JamesM. Wood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90006. Your contribution is tax deductible.Or you can make a contribution using your credit card by going tohttp://www.launionaflcio.org/donation-boron/.Some ILWU credit unions have set up a way for members to makeregular weekly contributions. Go to http://www.ilwu.org/mobilize/Local30/index.cfm to see how to help through your credit union.Thank you for supporting the locked-out familieswho are standing up for all of us.DISPATCHER • March 2010 3