Port Shutdown: News Blackout Breaking Down

[Terry Bain]

News of the West Coast Port Shutdown is beginning to trickle past the usual blackout into the mainstream media.  A Google News search shows articles about the 12/12 port blockade spiking well above previous levels. 

Since ignoring the effort was not making the Money Power's latest problems go away, tactics seem to have changed to trying to spin the issue as labor vs. the Occupy Movement.  Those tactics will probably change again, as people refuse to fall for that, either.

 AP 's Marcus Wohlsen article in BostonGlobe might lead readers to believe that Unions are against the blockade.  "The tension between the century-old International Longshore and Warehouse Union and a still-young protest movement has complicated an ambitious effort by Occupiers to build an identity that is bigger than their recently dismantled tent camps," he wrote.

Wohlsen goes on to say, "But under the terms of the ILWU contract, West Coast longshoremen cannot simply walk off the job en masse to support the shutdown, though individual union members can choose to exercise their First Amendment rights and not show up at the hiring hall that day."

The importance of labor and the occupy movement working together was stressed by Scott Johnson, in the Occupied Oakland Tribune.  He wrote, ""I initially approached the call for a General Strike on November 2 with the same skepticism, but the success of the event itself won me over."

According to Johnson, "Anybody still confused about this issue should read the interview with ILWU members Clarence Thomas and Leo Robinson. 

In that interview, according to Thomas, "Only 7.2 percent of private sector workers have union representation today, the lowest since 1900. Facing a critical moment, the labor movement has been reenergized by the Occupy Wall Street movement," Thomas said.

Clearly the 12/12 shutdown is a high stakes moment in the Movement's history.  Individuals should be aware of the Money Power's  motivations in downplaying labor support.