These workers did so, they said, “to demand an immediate end to the war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan and the withdrawal of US troops from the Middle East.” Their action revealed the power of organized labor as well as ongoing frustration with US wars that continue to this very day .

On May 1, 2008, ten thousand members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), one of the strongest and most militant unions in the United States, walked in those Chicagoans’ footsteps. They did so by walking off the docks at all twenty-night West Coast ports, completely shutting down America’s Pacific trading network.

May Day — a legal holiday for workers in most countries — was born in Chicago . On May 1, 1886, workers shut down America’s greatest industry city, and other cities too, to demand the eight-hour workday. In 1894, the US Congress intentionally created a Labor Day at another time of the year, but some Americans continue celebrating the original, real Labor Day.

Protesting Imperialist Wars

The plan for this “stop work” originated inside Local 10, which represents dockworkers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Jack Heyman, a long-time rank-and-file militant in Local 10, played a key role in organizing for the 2008 May Day action, alongside other internationally minded socialists in the local. In 2007, these socialists helped organize an international labor conference to stop the war in Iraq. Unionists from around the world participated, as did British Labour member of parliament Jeremy Corbyn. As Heyman told In These Times, “The main resolution of that conference was for trade unions to go back and organize strikes at the point of production.”

Subsequently, Local 10 offered a resolution at the ILWU Longshore Caucus, in which workers elected from every local meet to establish union-wide policy. They proposed a “stop work meeting” during the day shift on May Day to protest America’s imperialist wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although within their contractual rights, rarely are such meetings held for an entire shift, let alone for a day shift or for a political reason.

The International officers and Local 13 officials (Port of Los Angeles-Long Beach) urged caution, as recalled by several workers present at this caucus. However, as Samantha Levens, then a rank-and-file member of the San Francisco Region of the ILWU’s Inland Boatmen’s Union, recalled in an interview with In These Times, “Members from across the ILWU rose and spoke in favor of the resolution. I was new to the ILWU at this time, so this was the most moving thing to me. Many members spoke passionately against the war, many were veterans or had children in the military.” The resolution passed 97-3.

After much planning, including the organizing of marches and rallies in conjunction with the shutdowns, ILWU members stopped work in every port on May 1. As Seattle’s Local 19 President Herald Ugles said at the time, “Normally, when I see the cranes all boomed-up [longshore parlance for not moving], it makes me sad … But today it’s a great sight to see — not just here, but all up and down the West Coast!”

Heyman recalls,

That was uncertain going into the action, because PMA [Pacific Maritime Association], the employers’ association, was publicizing that the action was illegal and they’d take action in courts to stop it. Besides, they arrogantly stated that the largest longshore local on the Coast, Los Angeles, would go to work. LA officials were not committing themselves, but on May Day the membership spoke loud and clear. Nothing was moving on the docks that day!

Thanks poured in from around the world. As published in the June 2008 issue of the ILWU’s monthly magazine, Dispatcher, someone identified as “M.J.” wrote, “My husband is currently serving his second fifteen-month tour in Iraq. I want to thank you for your brave, and in my view, highly effective protest of the Iraq war. My husband and I are very pro-union for a lot of reasons, and you’ve given us another great reason to proudly say Union YES!!!”

Perhaps the most poignant message came from the General Union of Port Workers in Iraq:

The courageous decision you made to carry out a strike on May Day to protest against the war and occupation of Iraq advances our struggle against occupation to bring a better future for us and for the rest of the world as well.

“Longshore workers tried to show the labor movement that the working class has the power to stop these imperialist wars,” says Heyman. “The chant at the start of the Iraq War in the port of Oakland [in 2003] was “War is for profit, workers can stop it!”