[Note: This article was written by several members of Occupy Seattle who were closely involved with organizing for the December 12th West Coast Port Shut Down. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect all of Occupy Seattle.]Occupy Seattle
www.occupyseattle.orgDecember 13, 2011
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Occupy Seattle: A New Phase for the Workers’ Movement

SEATTLE, Wash — Monday, December 12th, Occupy protesters and allies shut down several major ports along the West Coast. In Seattle, we stopped all evening work at Terminals 18 and 5, causing millions in profit loss to major corporations Stevedoring Services of America, American President Line, and Eagle Marine Services.

Yesterday’s actions drew a wide swath of the 99%. Protesters of all ages demonstrated, and people of color turned out in large numbers. The protests included a coordinated city-wide high school walkout, a rally emceed by Hip Hop Occupies, and a three mile march to the ports. The shutdown was organized by members of Occupy Seattle in solidarity with Occupy Oakland and with the struggles of LA, Oakland, and Seattle port truckers and Longview longshore workers. Occupy Seattle’s People of Color caucus produced need-to-know guides for the action.

The shutdown was solidly an Occupy action, funded by the heartfelt donations of occupiers and their supporters, and a hefty donation from Occupy Oakland. We received absolutely no material support from any union. This was a direct action in the truest sense of the term: it was rapid-fire, organized on a shoestring budget, bypassed stalling bureaucracy, and mobilized the energy of an inspired community united against economic injustice.

The actions were planned with special attention to the long tradition of democracy and direct action within the ILWU. We picketed Terminals 18 and 5 in light of the longstanding ILWU principle of respecting other pickets. Union policy dictates that if arbitrators rule that picket lines are too dangerous to cross, ILWU workers will be compensated for the work they missed.

The protests were wildly successful. Truck drivers and port workers repeatedly expressed support for the protesters, waving and honking as they passed.

Terminal 18–the Port of Seattle’s largest and busiest terminal–was the first to be shut down. Protesters took the main intersection, swiftly forming a blockade of roadside debris to stop the incoming shift, while redirecting outgoing traffic onto one lane. This effectively blocked three gates, while the fourth had been shut down by the port in anticipation of the action. The Seattle Police Department, not protesters, temporarily stopped workers and truckers from leaving the port by forming a bike chain as protesters yelled at them to “let the trucks through.”

Under pressure from protesters, police backed away, but later stopped traffic once again, stating that they were trying to clear the road for police convoys to enter. In solidarity with the protesters, the truckers honked their horns loudly and persistently, and the frustrated calls of the crowd forced the cops back off the road. Occupiers then continued to direct traffic out of the port, delivering flyers of Scott Olsen’s statement to drivers as they passed (see below).

At 5pm, reports came through that the union arbitrator had ruled in favor of protesters, deeming the picket too dangerous to cross. The ILWU called off work at Terminal 18 for the evening. In accordance with union contract, dispatched longshore workers were nonetheless paid for their time.

Protesters then proceeded to Terminal 5, the location of the Port’s only other ship that day, chanting “Whose Ports / Our Ports.” Approximately one hundred protesters formed a human barricade and moving picket line at the terminal gate, while another hundred stood by in support.

Some protesters who remained at Terminal 18 were herded onto the sidewalk. When they tried to maintain the blockade, conflict escalated. The police used pepper spray and flash grenades to disperse protesters, in one case forcibly pulling back the head of a protester to spray him in the face. A few protesters flung road flares and a bag of paint at the police in retaliation. In the resulting chaos, a number of protesters were arrested.

The crowd of Terminal 18 dissipated and joined Terminal 5. After two hours of picketing, the union arbitrator once again ruled in favor of protesters, calling off work at the terminal.

At the time of this writing, however, workers dispatched to Terminal 5 will not be receiving their expected compensation. In an unprecedented move, terminal operators American President Lines and Eagle Marine Services have denied compensation to longshore workers despite contractual obligations. What will come of this contract violation is yet to be seen.

The Occupy Movement Strikes Back

Many of us showed up to this action having learned from the experiences we’ve had in the short months since we began assembling together. Having previous engagements with the police, we knew to protect ourselves. Legal observers and medics were interspersed through the crowd, and the majority brought bandannas and scarves to cover their noses against flash bombs and other chemical weapons utilized by the police. Some of us sported the goggles that we learned to use after pepper spray incapacitated activists during the march on Chase Bank.

Occupy Seattle’s action was one of the last in the day, following successful port shutdowns in Longview, Portland, Oakland, and other places. A hundred of our friends in Bellingham continued to break the flow of capital by protesting on the railroads, some locking themselves to the tracks in defiance. Solidarity was extended to us even from Japan, where the International Labor Solidarity Committee of Doro-Chiba made a statement of support.

We send our sincere thanks to Oakland and Portland for extending their protests in response to the police aggression in Seattle that left several of our friends with stinging eyes and ringing ears. We extend our support and love to Houston and San Diego, where the police have used similarly aggressive tactics.

Today, we stand in solidarity with the unemployed, the underemployed, the incarcerated, and the 89% of the working class who don’t belong to unions. We stand in solidarity with students protesting education cutbacks and rising debts, with low-wage workers protesting union-busting, with those facing foreclosure, and with the unemployed. We believe that a workers’ movement does not merely belong to the unionized, nor does it recognize imposed political borders. This is the building of a new movement. We rise from our roots in the labor movement, the civil rights movement, and anticolonial struggles across the world.

For ongoing updates on the West Coast Port Shut Down action: www.westcastportshutdown.org
Truck Drivers Statement: http://riseanddecolonize.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/an-open-letter-from-americas-port-truck-drivers-on-occupy-the-ports/
More information on Stevedoring Services of America (SSA) and Goldman Sachs: http://www.alternet.org/economy/153393/how_goldman_sachs_and_other_companies_exploit_port_truck_drivers_%E2%80%94_occupy_protesters_plan_to_shut_down_west_coast_ports_in_protest/
ILWU Guiding Principles (See in particular #4 regarding community picket lines): http://www.ilwu-local13.org/history-guiding-principles.html
Appeal from Scott Olsen to Longshore Workers: https://docs.google.com/open?id=1bt_ZhyioBUcmOXXMGrrv1p6BdcXM2V1-IgvsCy0HEQfzjKu1KgophSB_8qKk

http://westcoastportshutdown.org/content/call-action

Greetings and Solidarity from Occupy Oakland!

We present this call to you because we believe it is time the occupation movement begins to work together to carry through coordinated, pinpointed actions. We want  to disrupt the profits of the 1% and to show solidarity with those in the 99% who are under direct attack by corporate tyranny.

Occupations throughout the US have been evicted through nationally coordinated police raids. It is time for us to respond with our own coordinated actions. Our aim is to shutdown the West Coast ports:

• On December 12, the occupy movements in different cities will stage  mass mobilizations to march on the ports, create community pickets, and effectively shutdown the hubs of commerce, in the same fashion that Occupy Oakland shut down the Port of Oakland on November 2nd, the day of our general strike. The Oakland Port Shutdown was a historic and effective action, and the memory of that night on the port lives in the hearts of people across Oakland and around the country.
• The message to you from Occupy Oakland in the face of police raids and continued disruptions of workers lives by the 1% is the following: The Occupy movement will strike back and rise again! We will blockade all of the West Coast Ports on December 12th in solidarity with longshoremen, port workers and truckers in their struggle against the 1%! Together we are unstoppable! Strike while the iron is hot!

The following is the call for a coordinated West Coast Port Blockade to be carried out by the Occupy movement. It is this call which we wish for other Occupies to endorse and carry out. West Coast Occupations will have full political and material support for each other in whatever ways are necessary before, during, and after the port blockades. This call was passed unanimously at our Occupy Oakland General Assembly on Friday, November 18th.

Find out more at: http://www.westcoastportshutdown.org

Proposal for a Coordinated West Coast Port Blockade Passed Unanimously at the Occupy Oakland General Assembly 11/18/2012:

In response to coordinated attacks on the occupations and attacks on workers across the nation:

Occupy Oakland calls for the blockade and disruption of the economic apparatus of the 1% with a coordinated shutdown of ports on the entire West Coast on December 12th.

The 1% has disrupted the lives of longshoremen and port truckers and the workers who create their wealth, just as coordinated nationwide police attacks have turned our cities into battlegrounds in an effort to disrupt our Occupy movement.

We call on each West Coast occupation to organize a mass mobilization to shut down its local port.  Our eyes are on the continued union-busting and attacks on organized labor, in particular the rupture of Longshoremen jurisdiction in Longview Washington by the EGT.   Already, Occupy Los Angeles has passed a resolution to carry out a port action on the Port Of Los Angeles on December 12th, to shut down SSA terminals, which are owned by Goldman Sachs.

Occupy Oakland expands this call to the entire West Coast, and calls for continuing solidarity with the Longshoremen in Longview Washington in their ongoing struggle against the EGT.  The EGT is an international grain exporter led by Bunge LTD, a company constituted of 1% bankers whose practices have ruined the lives of the working class all over the world, from Argentina to the West Coast of the US.  During the November 2nd General Strike, tens of thousands shutdown the Port Of Oakland as a warning shot to EGT to stop its attacks on Longview.  Since the EGT has disregarded this message, and continues to attack the Longshoremen at Longview, we will now shut down ports along the entire West Coast.

• Participating occupations are asked to ensure that during the port shutdowns the local arbitrator rules in favor of longshoremen not crossing community picket lines in order to avoid recriminations against them.
• Should there be any retaliation against any workers as a result of their honoring pickets or supporting our port actions, additional solidarity actions should be prepared.
• In the event of police repression of any of the mobilizations, shutdown actions may be extended to multiple days.

We ask that you bring our proposal to your next General Assembly, as it is urgent that each Occupy begins to organize and mobilize for this major offensive ASAP. Please let us know if you have questions or need help. Most importantly, please copy us on your support resolutions passed at your GA’s.
In Solidarity and Struggle,
Occupy Oakland

The nationally coordinated, brutal police attacks on the Occupy Movement were supported by the 1%, and now we will strike back with our own coordinated attack on the 1% – a West Coast Port blockade and shutdown on December 12th in order to economically disrupt “wall street on the waterfront.”

When we say “Wall street on the waterfront” we point particularly to EGT and Goldman Sachs. The West Coast Ports will be blockaded on December 12th in solidairty with longshoremen and port truckers struggles against EGT and Goldman Sachs.

EGT is an multinational grain exporter consortium. Bunge Ltd is the largest partner in ETG who reported 2.5 billion dollars in profit last year alone and has direct ties to Wall Street and has caused economic despair in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, and now the United States. EGT has been rupturing ILWU jurisdiction in Longview, Washington and bringing in scab labor.

We will blockade all the ports on the West Coast in solidarity with the Longshoremen in Longview in their struggle against EGT. We are also blockading the ports in solidarity with the struggle of port truckers against Goldman Sachs. The blockade is also intended to disrupt the profits of the 1% by showing solidarity with those who are under direct attack – exerting the collective muscle of the west coast occupies.

Goldman Sachs owns a large part of the SSA port terminals and is guilty of facilitating the exploitation of non-union and short-run, port truck drivers who have struggled for dignified and humane conditions in the workplace for several years now. These independent truck drivers are majority immigrant workers who are pitted against each other, and receive low wages and unreliable hours while Goldman Sachs, the shipping companies and their underlings reap record profits.

EGT and Goldman Sachs are the 1%. The Occupy movement is committed to shutting down the one percent and is using its collective political power in order to confront the 1% with mass mobilizations that shut down sites of profit.

The giant retail shipping, trucking and global logistics corporations like Wal-Mart, Maersk and Goldman Sachs’ own SSA Marine cooked up a scheme to stick it to America’s port truck drivers long before Wall Street’s greed uprooted Main Street’s middle class. As Salon.com recently exposed, lax oversight and little regulation has created a shadowy industry that denies drivers their legal right to form a union.

U.S. ports have thus become economic engines for the elite; the 1% these trade hubs serve are free to rip the shirts off the backs of the 99% who turn their profits.

As part of the planned demonstrations, we are committed to exposing these systematic injustices. We pledge both our solidarity and ongoing support to the truck drivers who are uniting to win dignity, respect, and control over their work.

More info:

Who is EGT?

Blog Articles explaining how Goldman-Sachs and EGT have been screwing port workers:

“Tricking Taxpayers and Truck Drivers: Goldman Sachs Brings Wall Street to the Waterfront”

“Union longshoremen rally at EGT Development offices in Portland”

A message from the coalition on clean and safe ports: