[olympiaworkers] Have you thought about supporting Leonard Peltier?

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From: The Tacoma Chapter of the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee and the Office of the Northwest Regional Organizer of the LPDOC

IF EVER YOU THOUGHT ABOUT SUPPORTING LEONARD PELTIER, NOW IS THE TIME TO DO IT!
  The New Leonard Peltier Clemency Campaign is the most important Leonard Peltier campaigns in many years. To help build pubic pressure in support of clemency, the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee has issued a call:

  â€œThe Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee calls on supporters worldwide to protest against the injustice suffered by Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier. Gather on February 4, 2012, at every federal court house and U.S. embassy or consulate worldwide to demand the freedom of a man wrongfully convicted and illegal imprisoned for 36 years! “

  â€œAlthough the courts have acknowledged evidence of government misconductâ€"including forcing witnesses to lie and hiding ballistics evidence reflecting his innocenceâ€"Mr. Peltier has been denied a new trial on a legal technicality. Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, 55 Members of Congress and othersâ€"including a judge who sat as a member of the court in two of Mr. Peltier’ s appealsâ€"have all called for his immediate release.”

  â€œThe Courts may not be able to act but Barack Obama, as President, can. Please join with us to free an innocent man. On February 4, 2012, tell Obama to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier.”
.
  Over the years Leonard Peltier's bid for freedom has been supported by many people, including labor unions, Amnesty International, First Nations and Native organizations (like the National Congress of American Indians, (see http://lpdoc.blogspot.com/2011/12/ncai-to-obama-its-time-to-free-leonard.html) , human and civil rights organizations, many celebrities, and people around the world just like you. Each and every Leonard Peltier supporter is important and together we must build the public support that is needed to free Leonard.
  WE must free Leonard because he is a person who has stood up for his people and in 36 years in prison refuses to be broken. WE must free Leonard because he is an innocent activist who was framed up and the laws of this land, including the constitution, have not applied to him. WE must free Leonard because he is a part of the Native struggle against polices of genocide, theft of Native land and broken treaties.
  WE must free Leonard because we are all connected to him. All social activists are threaten by what they have done to Leonard. All the non-corporate people share, in many different ways, in the great suffering that the giant computations have caused for us all. So please help free Leonard for your own and your families well-being also.
  Please join with us on February 4, 2012 for THE INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER. Join with people at organized events in many places including: The Northwest region of the U.S. (Tacoma, Portland, Olympia, Seattle and other towns united together) march in Tacoma, WA;  Toronto and Vancouver; Canada; Binghamton, UK; Berlin and Hamburg,Germany; Brussels, Belgium; Dublin, Ireland; Boulder, CO, San Jose, CA; Albuquerque, NM; San Francisco, CA; New York City, NY; and other places. If there is no event in your area please organize one and let LPDOC know about it at; Phone: 701/235-2206, E-mail: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info.
   Also while this is going on The Leonard Peltier Walk For Human Rights is moving across the country.
  Here in the Northwest region we have for many years organize marches and rallies for Leonard. Since 1992 we have organized 63 marches in Portland, Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle, Everett, Mount Vernon, Bellingham and at the U.S./Canadian border. All this organizing and educational experiences has lead us to the INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER, NORTHWEST REGION MARCH AND RALLY on February 4, 2012 in Tacoma. This is the most important march the Northwest has ever organized! If you have supported Leonard in the past, please join with us again. If you have ever thought about supporting Leonard, now is the time to do it. Thank you.

As individual fingers we can easily be broken, but all together we make a mighty fist.
-- Sitting Bull

INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER
NW REGIONAL MARCH AND RALLY FOR CLEMENCY FOR LEONARD PELTIER

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY, 4, 2012, TACOMA, WA.

12:00 NOON: MARCH FOR JUSTICE Portland Ave. Park (on Portland Ave. between E. 35th & E. Fairbanks. Take Portland Ave. exit off I-5 and head east)
1:00 PM: RALLY FOR JUSTICE U.S. Federal Court House, 1717-Pacific Ave.
  
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INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER NW MARCH AND RALLY: FEB. 4, TACOMA.  12:00 NOON: MARCH FOR JUSTICE Portland Ave. Park (on Portland Ave. between E. 35th & E. Fairbanks. Take Portland Ave. exit off I-5 and head east)
1:00 PM: RALLY FOR JUSTICE U.S. Federal Court House, 1717-Pacific Ave.
http://zinelibrary.info/files/Peltier_March_2011.pdf

  SPEAKERS:
Co-MCs
Matilaja: Yu’Pik Eskimo from Mountain Village Alaska. Member of N.W. AIM since 1973, Friend of Leonard Peltier for 38 odd years and member of Tacoma Chapter LPDOC
Steve Hapy: Long time Leonard Peltier and Native struggles activist, Tacoma Chapter LPDOC
Leonard Peltier Honor Song:
AIM Warrior Society Drum
Opening:
Dorothy Ackerman: Lakota Elder
Drum:
Albert Combs and Coastal Hand Drum Singers
Welcoming:
Deeahop Conway, Puyallup Tribal member, Tacoma Chapter LPDOC
Leonard's case and up-date;
Arthur J. Miller: Northwest Regional Organizer LPDOC, Tacoma Chapter LPDOC,  long time union member and human rights activist
Keynote Speaker:
Ramona Bennett: Puyallup Tribal Elder, Life long friend of Leonard Peltier, Grand Mother, Great Grand Mother
Chester Earl: Puyallup Tribal member
Zoltan Grossman: Evergreen State College faculty in Geography and Native Studies, in Olympia. former board member of Midwest Treaty Network in Wisconsin.
Decolonization:
Claudia Serrato
Unity:
Michael One Road: Portland Chapter LPDOC
Closing words:
David Duenas: Puyallup Tribal Member
  
  CAR POOLS: OLYMPIA: There will be a carpool leaving from the parking lot at Harrison and Division at 10:15 am. PORTLAND, meet up outside of KBOO Radio Station (20 SE 8th, Portland, OR 97124) before embarking to Tacoma between 9:00-9:30am.SEATTLE: Meet at the Red Apple parking lot at 23rd and Jackson by the bus stop. Will be leaving at 10:30 am
  We need new banners and signs.  We need video of this event to use for support work, please send us DVD copies. We need supporters to get out fliers, if you can please contact us. We need people to forward our e-mail statements. We need people to share on facebook information on the march. Our marches are not about one group but rather they are the work of all Peltier supporters in our region.
  
  RESOLUTIONS FOR CLEMENCY: Leonard needs resolutions for clemency from Tribes, Unions, Human Rights Organizations and others. See a sample resolution at:
http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/resolution.htm
  
  For donations: Please make checks payable to the Leonard Peltier Defense/Offense Committee (mark them for NW March) and send them to: Tacoma Chapter LPODC, P.O. Box 5464, Tacoma, WA 98415.
  
  Join Tacoma Chapter LPDOC on facebook at: http://facebook.com/tacoma.lpdoc
Subscribe to: Northwest Peltier Support at: nwpeltiersupport-subscribe@lists.riseup.net    
For more information: www.whoisleonardpeltier.info

TACOMA CHAPTER, LPDOC, P.O. BOX 5464, TACOMA, WA 98415-0464. bayou@blarg.net

MARCH STATEMENT

“I have no doubt whatsoever that the real motivation behind both Wounded Knee II and the Oglala firefight, and much of the turmoil throughout Indian Country since the early 1970s, wasâ€"and isâ€"the mining companies’ desire to muffle AIM and all traditional Indian people, who soughtâ€"and still seekâ€"to protect the land, water, and air from their thefts and depredations. In this sad and tragic age we live in, to come to the defense of Mother Earth is to be branded a criminal.” --Leonard Peltier, Prison Writings â€"

Leonard Peltier (of the Anishinabe, Dakota, and Lakota Nations), long time Native Activist and member of the American Indian Movement. Leonard Peltier, an innocent man who was convicted for the 1975 shooting deaths of two agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. U.S. prosecutors have repeatedly admit ted that they did not and cannot prove Peltier's guilt, and the appellate courts have cited numerous instances of investigative and prosecutorial misconduct in this case. As late as November 2003, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals acknowledged that "…Much of the government’s behavior at the Pine Ridge Reservation and its prosecution of Mr. Peltier is to be condemned. The government withheld evidence. It intimidated witnesses. These facts are not disputed." The trial of the first two AIM members in this case were found not guilty for reason of self-defense.
  Behind the case of Leonard Peltier and the events that took place on the Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota Reservation is the continuing theft of Native land for energy corporations. High grade Uranium was found in the northwest corner of Pine Ridge. It was well known that the Lakota people would be unwilling to sell their land because they refused payment for the Black Hills. So a plan was carried out to suppress the traditional Oglala Lakota people and their supporters from the America Indian Movement. This lead to the Wounded Knee II Occupation, over 500 AIM members being indited on charges, a two and a half year reign of terror against the Oglala Lakota people, and the firefight near Oglala, that Leonard was charged with, that took place at the same time that a corrupt tribal Chairman was illegally signing away the part of Pine Ridge with the Uranium. The firefight took place as a means to divert attention and to suppress AIM.
  Leonard has been in prison for over 36 years for a crime he did not commit and a crime that forces of greed were responsibly for. They have withheld medical care for Leonard and recently Leonard was placed in solitary confinement for 72 days and then sent to a high security prison in Florida, as far away from his lawyers and family as they could send him. Leonard is in bad health and they want Leonard to die in prison, alone and forgotten.  We will not let that happen.
   We are now organizing a new clemency for Leonard Peltier campaign and the regional march on Feb, 4, 2012 are a very important part of that. Please help us raise money for it and get the word out everywhere.  Please. let us come together in the spirit of unity for Leonard and for the kind of justice and peace we want for our world. Thank you.

LINKS
Join Tacoma Chapter LPDOC on facebook at: http://facebook.com/tacoma.lpdoc
Subscribe to: Northwest Peltier Support at: nwpeltiersupport-subscribe@lists.riseup.net    
For more information: www.whoisleonardpeltier.info
March web site; http://leonardpeltiermarch.wordpress.com/
On the web
http://zinelibrary.info/international-day-solidarity-leonard-peltier-feb-4-2011-fliers-and-info
Two page flier for NW Regional March: http://zinelibrary.info/files/Peltier_March_2011.pdf
One page flier for NW Regional March: http://zinelibrary.info/files/Peltier_March_2001_info.pdf Portland flier for NW Regional March: http://zinelibrary.info/files/Portland_Peltier_Flier.pdf
11 by 17 poster for the march/rally: http://zinelibrary.info/files/Peltier_Poster_2011.pdf
March statements and flier: http://zinelibrary.info/files/Peltier_March_2001_info.pdf  
Feb. 4, 2012 Regional March in Tacoma Facebook event pages:
http://www.facebook.com/events/#!/events/163763897043790/
http://www.facebook.com/events/#!/events/179938242097693/
Back ground article on Leonard
http://zinelibrary.info/files/2012_case_of_leonard_peltier.pdf
Video: LPDOC NW Regional Organizer Arthur J. Miller speaking about the case history of political prisoner Leonard Peltier: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pvxqgIVRlo
LPDOC: Constitutional Violations in the Peltier Case:    http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/violations.htm
youtube video of Ramona Bennett from last May rally
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yP-NnxB4RU
Audio recording of The May rally in Tacoma:
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2011/05/26/peltier_march_2011.mp3
An Open Letter to the OCCUPY! Movement;
http://zinelibrary.info/files/open%20letter%20to%20occupy.pdf
Organizing Marches and Rallies: The Tacoma Model:
http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/download/marches.doc
Matilaja: (Yu’Pik Eskimo from Mountain Village Alaska. Member of N.W. AIM since 1973, Friend of Leonard Peltier for 38 odd years and member of Tacoma Chapter LPDOC) speaking at the showing of “Incident At Oglala, The Leonard Peltier Story”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2kadnAv-dI
Puyallup Tribal News article on Feb. 4, 2012 Regional Leonard Peltier March in Tacoma:
http://www.puyalluptribalnews.net/news/view/march-rally-for-leonard-peltier-in-tacoma/

ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,ZAP,

NORTHWEST PHONE AND E-MAIL ZAP, FEBRUARY 6 TO 10, 2012
White House Comments Line - 202-456-1111; 202-456-1112
E-mail:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Message: Northwest people support clemency for Leonard Peltier

  It is important to keep phone calls, e-mails, and letters going to the White House during the clemency campaign. But we want to make sure that it is very clear that the northwest supports clemency for Leonard Peltier, so we have called for a phone and e-mail Zap (a phone Zap is when a lot of people call around the same time), the week after the regional march and rally. Please northwest folks show your support of Leonard Peltier. Thank you.

[olympiaworkers] 100th Anniversary of Bread and Roses Strike— Was It the First Occupy?

by Adele Stan, Jan 12, 2012 AFL-CIO

Today in Lawrence, Mass., union members and their allies will gather at a
historic mill building for a re-enactment of the historic Bread and Roses
strike that moved the conscience of the nation, bringing national
attention to the plight of the families, including young children, who
toiled in the dirty and dangerous factories of Lawrence and throughout the
country.

The re-enactment kicks off a yearlong celebration of the Bread and Roses
centennial, which will commemorate change-making events in Lawrence that
gave rise to the U.S. labor movement.

On Jan. 12, 1912, some 25,000 workers at the mills of the American Woolen
Company in Lawrence walked off the job when the company cut their
pay—already a mere $8 a week for the men, and less for the women and
children—after the state legislature passed a law shortening the length of
their workweek from 56 hours to 54 hours. Workers stayed off the job for
months, enduring beatings from police and the Massachusetts militia, who
spared not even women and children.

Some see in the conditions that led to the Bread and Roses strike
parallels to today's growing income disparity between the wealthy and the
rest of us, as well as the exploitation of America's workers by financial
interests. Robert Forrant, a history professor at the University of
Massachusetts, calls it "the first Occupy movement." Says Massachusetts
AFL-CIO President Steven Tolman:

It's an unfortunate irony that we have come full circle since 1912.
The strikers then were immigrant workers barely able to survive on low
wages. Today Lawrence, like many industrial cities, is a place where
immigrant workers are really struggling in an unfair economy.

The strikers were mostly immigrants who had crossed the ocean on a promise
of prosperity, only to find themselves and their children brutally
exploited by the textile tycoons.

Ethan Snow, a member of the Centennial Committee and a UMass graduate
student, noted that the Bread and Roses strike spelled the beginning of
the end for child labor in America, and the start of real workplace
reforms. He added:

The strike is notable because it was the first time that over 25,000
people from 50 nationalities speaking 27 different languages united to
win rights in the workplace. The labor movement in 1912 was very young
and no decisive victory had really been achieved until the 1912 strike
in Lawrence.

Before the strike, the mill owners had effectively pitted the various
ethnic groups against one another, and set different conditions for the
skilled workers of the AFL's craft unions and the so-called unskilled
workers who had no union representation until the strike drew the
organizers of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). In solidarity
with the unskilled workers, the AFL supported the strike.

Coined by a mid-19th century French philosopher, "One may live without
bread, but not without roses," today continues to mean that people are due
more in their life than toil. "Bread and Roses" also has been immortalized
in a song.

More information about events sponsored by the Bread & Roses Centennial
Committee is here. For more on the history of the Bread and Roses strike,
see this video on the website of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO

[olympiaworkers]

The Occupy Solidarity Social Forum is approaching and a couple hundred folks who have found an affinity and hope in the Occupy movement are coming from all over the nation for a weekend of plenaries, panels, actions and workshops. Find out more and register to participate through http://ossf2012.org. We are looking for locals to pick folks up at the airports, the train stations, homes for out of towners, food preparers and volunteering during those days, February 18-19. Friday the 17th we will have a small social event in the evening at the Labor Center, at 9th and Colombia, where the conference will primarily be located. Sunday the 19th we will be having a public celebration at the Olympia Ballroom at 7:30 with music performance by Jim Page, Danny Kelly, David Rovics and guests.

President's Day, Monday, February 20, we are putting our training into practice with actions all day at the capitol, the banks, and other secret locations around town. We need a mass of folks at Sylvester Park starting at 10AM to rally, then a march taking off at noon to the capitol where we will end on the Supreme Court steps and perform street theater and actions. It is a big day so let your friends know, there is a flier here that can help with that! A thousand good folks will be at the capitol that day for other events and we want to be there in support of all those who show up and honor their participation. However our message is clear for all to hear that day. Stop the cuts, make the 1% pay!

"Whatever the legislators do is not enough. We have no faith in their representation and no money to buy their loyalty. That's why we are stepping forward, to take what's ours; our dignity, our democracy, our resources, our future which we envision as beautiful without fear and with promise. For we are the 99% and we are passive no longer!"
- anonymous citizen and Occupy participant.
http://www.facebook.com/events/329525373737086/

Solidarity,
-bruce
ossf2012@gmail.com

[olympiaworkers] Condemn Use of U.S. Military to Escort Scab Grain Ship in Longview, Washington

San Francisco Labor Council Resolution – Adopted Jan. 9, 2012 by unanimous
vote

Condemn Use of U.S. Military to Escort Scab Grain Ship in Longview WA

Whereas, EGT, a joint venture led by multinational grain giant Bunge,
agreed to hire union Longshoremen when accepting millions in taxpayer
funds to build a huge new grain exporting terminal at the Port of Longview
WA, but once the terminal was built has tried to void its contract and
refused to hire ILWU labor. With the use of brutal police and courts and
220 arrests in the 225 member ILWU Local 21, EGT has managed to get enough
scab grain across picket lines into the new terminal that EGT appears
poised to load a ship soon in violation of their agreement with the port;
and

Whereas, a solidarity caravan of thousands of union members and community
activists – endorsed by ILWU Locals 10 and 21, the S.F. and Cowlitz County
(Longview) labor councils and many others – is being organized to support
our brothers and sisters in Longview, for an emergency mass protest when
requested to do so, to confront union-busting by Wall Street on the
Waterfront; and

Whereas, according to Longshore & Shipping News, within a month, the empty
grain ship will be escorted by armed U.S. Coast Guard vessels and
helicopters, from the mouth of the Columbia River to the EGT facility. The
Coast Guard is an integral part of the US Armed Forces, operating under
the Department of Homeland Security (except when engaged in combat
operations abroad, as it did in Iraq, when it operates under the Navy);
and

Whereas, this is the first known use of the US military to intervene in a
labor dispute on the side of management in 40 years – not since the Great
1970 Postal Strike when President Nixon called out the Army and National
Guard in an (unsuccessful) attempt to break the strike. The use of the
Armed Forces against labor unions is something you expect to see in a
police state. This is part of a disturbing trend where the US military,
acting as enforcers for the 1%, is poised to be used against our own
people, as exemplified by the new law allowing the military to imprison US
citizens indefinitely without trial; and

Whereas, now the US military, which has been oppressing, bombing and
threatening other nations [a military that's paid for with the workers'
taxes] is now being used against us, against American working people and
our unions. To quote ILWU international President McEllrath: "ILWU's labor
dispute with EGT is symbolic of what is wrong in the United States today.
Corporations, no matter how harmful the conduct to society, enjoy full
state and federal protection while workers and the middle class get
treated as criminals for trying to protect their jobs and communities."

Therefore be it Resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council condemn in
the strongest terms the announced use of US Armed Forces (Coast Guard) to
provide an armed sea and air escort for the empty grain ship, which is due
to call at the new EGT grain terminal, Port of Longview, Washington, to
load scab grain for export to Asia. We condemn this use of the military as
part of a union-busting campaign to lower the cost of labor on the
waterfront and destroy the union;

And be it further Resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council join with
allies in other cities on the West Coast to participate in any press
conferences and demonstrations that are organized to denounce this use of
the military to intervene in a labor dispute on the side of Wall Street on
the Waterfront;

And be it finally Resolved, that the Council circulate this resolution to
affiliated unions, Bay Area labor councils, the California Labor
Federation, as well as labor bodies in Oregon and Washington, for
concurrence and action, and urge labor leaders including Richard Trumka
and Mary Kay Henry to take a strong stand against this brazen assault on
our labor rights and civil liberties.

http://phillyworkersvoice.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/condemn-use-of-u-s-military-to-escort-scab-grain-ship-in-longview-wa/

[olympiaworkers] Help needed for Feb. 4th Peltier march

Please share

HELP NEEDED FOR INTERNATIONAL DAY IN SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER, NW REGIONAL MARCH. FEB. 4, 2012 IN TACOMA. We people to video tape the march and rally. This is very important because we will use it help build support for clemency. Please send copies of video to: Tac. LPDOC, P.O. Box 5464, Tacoma, WA 98415-0464. Two page flier for NW Regional March: http://zinelibrary.info/files/Peltier_March_2011.pdf  Portland flier for NW Regional March: http://zinelibrary.info/files/Portland_Peltier_Flier.pdf 11 by 17 poster for the march/rally: http://zinelibrary.info/files/Peltier_Poster_2011.pdf

[olympiaworkers] The Looming Showdown in Longview

January 10, 2012 Counterpunch.org

"The ILWU Cannot Lose This Fight"

by BEN SCHREINER

The long-simmering dispute between the International Longshore and
Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the international consortium EGT Development
transpiring in Longview, Washington looks to be coming to a head.

In a January 3 letter addressed to his members, ILWU International
President Robert McEllrath disclosed that EGT will soon attempt to
commence operations at its new $200 million grain terminal located at the
Port of Longview. As McEllrath wrote, "We believe that at some point this
month a vessel will call at the EGT facility in Longview,
Washington…Prepare to take action when the EGT vessel arrives."

The Struggle and Its Stakes

At the heart of the Longview dispute has been EGT's refusal to hire
longshoremen from ILWU Local 21 to work its grain terminal at the Port of
Longview. The publicly owned port—as with all West Coast public port
docks—has been worked exclusively by the ILWU for decades.

Dismissing this hard-won jurisdiction, EGT chose to break off negotiations
with the ILWU last year and contract with a third party employing labor
from International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 701. The
ILWU argues that this is in direct violation of EGT's lease agreement with
the Port of Longview, which explicitly stipulates all port work is to
indeed be done by the ILWU.

For its part, IUOE Local 701 has been widely condemned within the
Northwest labor community, with many accusing the local of conspiring with
EGT to break the ILWU. Both the Washington and Oregon state AFL-CIO
bodies, along with numerous other unions, have already passed resolutions
condemning Local 701. The July resolution passed by the Oregon AFL-CIO
described 701's actions at the EGT terminal as "scab labor."

The national AFL-CIO, on the other hand, has remained conspicuously muted
on the dispute. No mention of the ILWU's struggle in Longview can be
found on the federation's website or blog. In fact, AFL-CIO President
Richard Trumka has referred to the entire matter as a mere "jurisdictional
dispute."

Yet despite the AFL's seeming indifference, the outcome of the struggle
couldn't have greater stakes. As Kyle Mackey, Secretary/Treasurer of the
Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Central Labor Council (the umbrella labor body for the
Longview area), argues, "If EGT succeeds, they will have essentially
broken the ILWU." As he explains:

First, they will set a precedent that work on public port docks is no
longer automatically longshore jurisdiction. Then within less than a
year, when the northwest grain handlers' agreement is set to be
negotiated, all the other grain elevators will seek to either go
non-ILWU or to match the eroded standard EGT creates. Shortly
thereafter, in 2014, the ILWU will negotiate its master contract with
the Pacific Maritime Association. If they lose, you can bet the PMA
will take notice and hit hard.

In the midst of a nationwide attack on organized labor and the right to
collectively bargain, the defeat of the powerful ILWU would also be sure
to have consequences reaching far beyond the docks.

The Call for Solidarity

Responding to the intensifying situation, the Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Central
Labor Council on January 2 passed a resolution calling for solidarity
action to stop the EGT vessel from being loaded. The resolution read in
part:

Be it Resolved: That this Council call out to friends of labor and the
"99 percent" everywhere to come to the aid of ILWU Local 21, and to
support them in any way possible in their fight against multinational
conglomerate EGT. And,

Be it further Resolved: That this Council request that anyone willing
to participate in a community and labor protest in Longview,
Washington, of the first EGT grain ship do so when called upon by this
body.

Accordingly, planning for a regional solidarity caravan to shuttle ILWU
rank-and-file and other supporters to Longview on word of the EGT vessel's
arrival is already underway. With the support of the San Francisco Labor
Council, ILWU Local 10, for one, has already pledged funds for a bus to
ferry rank-and-file picketers up to Longview once given the word.

The Northwest Occupy movement, meanwhile, has also begun to mobilize. On
December 19, Occupy Longview issued a call for Occupy activists to
converge on the port to blockade the loading of any vessel at EGT's
terminal. As Occupy Longview stated, "We are calling out to all occupies,
from New York City down to Florida, all the way through to the West Coast,
to join us in solidarity…We ask that tens of thousands travel to Longview
to join us and make this action the central action for January 2012."

Occupy and the ILWU

The inclusion and participation of outside activists in the ILWU's
Longview struggle—such as those from the Occupy movement—has not been
without its share of controversy. As was widely publicized, the ILWU
leadership refrained from embracing the West Coast Port Shutdown in
December, which the Occupy movement had called in part to show solidarity
with the ILWU in the struggle against EGT. In fact, the Occupy-led port
shutdown led a few unionist and other observers to question the merits and
rational behind an action conducted without much in the way of ILWU input
and participation.

Occupy activist, though, maintained that they did indeed have
rank-and-file support for the action. Moreover, they argued that the
antagonistic statements coming from the ILWU leadership regarding the port
shutdown were merely for legal cover. (Local 21, for instance, already
faces upwards of $300,000 in fines due to unfair labor practice charges
accrued from its ongoing struggle.)

Regardless, the matter of independent action conducted in solidarity with,
or in the name of, the ILWU remains an issue. As President McEllrath
cautioned in his January 3 letter, "Any showing of support for Local 21 at
the time that a vessel calls at the EGT facility must be measured to
ensure that the West Coast ports have sufficient manpower so as not to
impact cargo movement for PMA member companies. A call for a protest of
EGT is not a call for a shutdown of West Coast ports and must not result
in one."

Facing a Stacked Deck

The dictate to limit any ILWU action to EGT in Longview stems from the
severe restrictions American labor law places on unions. As McEllrath
notes in his letter to members, "Locals need to be aware of the narrow
path that we must cut through a federal labor law (the Taft-Hartley Act)
that criminalizes worker solidarity, outlaws labor's most effective tools,
and protects commerce while severely restricting unions."

Of course in addition to repressive labor laws, a key challenge facing any
attempt to effectively blockade EGT's terminal from beginning operations
will be the expected heavy-handed police presence. To date, at least 75
out of the 200 Local 21 members have already faced arrest, citation,
fines, or both. (Little surprise, then, to learn that EGT has made
contributions to local police and fire bureaus.)

But as for what to expect once EGT seeks to load a grain barge later this
month, McEllrath warns, "We have been told that this vessel will be
escorted by armed United States Coast Guard, including the use of small
vessels and helicopters, from the mouth of the Columbia River to the EGT
facility and that the facility itself will be protected by a full
complement of local law enforcement from multiple jurisdictions."

But even facing such a stacked deck—with the courts, police, and, needless
to say, the media conspiring against them—make no mistake: the ILWU has
never been a union to back away from a struggle. As ILWU Local 21
President Dan Coffman has stated, "The ILWU cannot lose this fight; we are
in it to it to win it."

And so it is that as we approach the one-year anniversary of the Wisconsin
uprising, the long sleeping giant that is American labor stirs once more.

Ben Schreiner is a freelance writer living in Salem, Oregon. He may be
reached at bnschreiner@gmail.com.

Re: [olympiaworkers] Call to action from Longview, WA

Why are u blocking the "EGT grain ship arrival

Diane

On Sun, Jan 1, 2012 at 2:27 AM, <olympiaworkers@riseup.net> wrote:

from West Coast Port Shutdown

***EGT Grain Ship Arrival - Call to Action by Occupy Longview Washington***

Occupy Longview (Washington) is officially putting out a call to action to
block the EGT grain ship expected to arrive mid-January.

There has already been discussion between occupies in various cities to
caravan here to Longview, WA for the purpose of blocking this ship. We,
Occupy Longview, are ready to move forward with planning and coordinating
to make this action successful.

We are calling out to all occupies, from New York City down to Florida,
all the way through to the West Coast, to join us in solidarity.

What we will need:

1) Numbers! We need to have a large turn-out. We need your bodies!

2) Media coordination/help

3) Finances/donated funds from larger occupies (for buses, housing early
arrivers, etc.)

Arrangements are already being planned to acquire a donated space or rent
a building for the month of January for the purpose of planning,
organizing and housing those who may arrive early and/or for those who may
come from afar.

We ask that tens of thousands travel to Longview to join us and make this
action the central action for January 2012. Let's kick off 2012! Join us
in Solidarity!

Re: [olympiaworkers] Call to action from Longview, WA

Do u have a definite date yet or an approximate one?

Diane-OCFB

On Sun, Jan 1, 2012 at 2:27 AM, <olympiaworkers@riseup.net> wrote:

from West Coast Port Shutdown

***EGT Grain Ship Arrival - Call to Action by Occupy Longview Washington***

Occupy Longview (Washington) is officially putting out a call to action to
block the EGT grain ship expected to arrive mid-January.

There has already been discussion between occupies in various cities to
caravan here to Longview, WA for the purpose of blocking this ship. We,
Occupy Longview, are ready to move forward with planning and coordinating
to make this action successful.

We are calling out to all occupies, from New York City down to Florida,
all the way through to the West Coast, to join us in solidarity.

What we will need:

1) Numbers! We need to have a large turn-out. We need your bodies!

2) Media coordination/help

3) Finances/donated funds from larger occupies (for buses, housing early
arrivers, etc.)

Arrangements are already being planned to acquire a donated space or rent
a building for the month of January for the purpose of planning,
organizing and housing those who may arrive early and/or for those who may
come from afar.

We ask that tens of thousands travel to Longview to join us and make this
action the central action for January 2012. Let's kick off 2012! Join us
in Solidarity!

[olympiaworkers] Call to action from Longview, WA

from West Coast Port Shutdown

***EGT Grain Ship Arrival - Call to Action by Occupy Longview Washington***

Occupy Longview (Washington) is officially putting out a call to action to
block the EGT grain ship expected to arrive mid-January.

There has already been discussion between occupies in various cities to
caravan here to Longview, WA for the purpose of blocking this ship. We,
Occupy Longview, are ready to move forward with planning and coordinating
to make this action successful.

We are calling out to all occupies, from New York City down to Florida,
all the way through to the West Coast, to join us in solidarity.

What we will need:

1) Numbers! We need to have a large turn-out. We need your bodies!

2) Media coordination/help

3) Finances/donated funds from larger occupies (for buses, housing early
arrivers, etc.)

Arrangements are already being planned to acquire a donated space or rent
a building for the month of January for the purpose of planning,
organizing and housing those who may arrive early and/or for those who may
come from afar.

We ask that tens of thousands travel to Longview to join us and make this
action the central action for January 2012. Let's kick off 2012! Join us
in Solidarity!