Bosses Don't Choose Unions, Workers Do

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Acumensch
November 08, 2007

On Nov. 7th 2007 a picket line was called to push the administration of Maersk (headquarters in Tacoma) to allow workers to join the union of their choice instead of the company union that managers have imposed on them.

An arbitrator called by the longshoremens' union (ILWU) and management decided whether the picket line Jobs With Justice staged was safe to cross. The arbitrator deemed it unsafe and required management to compensate the longshore workers for not crossing the line.

Jobs With Justice organized the picket, Tacoma SDS and other community members who heard word-of-mouth about the picket went to the port to show solidarity.

Maersk is the largest shipping company in the world, JWJ said. Its North American headquarters are located in Tacoma. The workers are not granted basic needs that other union workers are, such as a living wage. Workers are forced to join the company union which acts as an obstacle to them. Maersk has tried to convince workers that the company union is a good union, and that other unions are dangerous. The workers are not convinced. They voted to change the company union, and Maersk is unwilling to do that at this time.

Tacoma P.D. singled out Tacoma SDS members and asked for identification and phone numbers. There were no physical confrontations, but our group felt it was unfair that officers would single out SDS without any reasonable suspicion. We told them we would not consent to any of their questions or searches. Officer Darlington said the port has been the site of conspiracies to conduct terrorism. "People ride jetskis next to tankers and then they speed off in the other direction," he said. We were not convinced that this warranted suspicion towards Tacoma SDS.

***Earlier we published an account of this protest that we wish to clarify. The Jobs with Justice (JwJ) port protest was a community solidarity picket not a wildcat strike. JwJ is a community coalition that includes many community organizations as well as unions. Solidarity picketers did not include Port of Tacoma workers and JwJ did not call for and is not calling for a strike of any workers. Securitas is the contractor that Maersk hired to employ the Maersk Terminal guards who are organizing to form a union. The company union has a different name than Securitas. The arbitrator is an independent "neutral" selected jointly by management and union leaders and is not from the Longshoremens' union (ILWU).

Mark Jensen from UFPPC wrote,

Maersk began operations at the Port of Tacoma in 1985, and completed a major port extension in 2002, finishing the Port of Tacoma's largest terminal before the Iraq war. Maersk Line Ltd. contracts with the Department of Defense Military Sealift Command to operate and manage a number of military vessels, and has approximately double the volume of its business with the U.S. Government since Sept. 11, 2001, undertaking one third of the shipping of all U.S. military equipment to Iraq in preparation of the March 2003 invasion and earning more than $1 billion in sales through 2006, according to a CorpWatch (http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id =13196&printsafe=1) account.

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Category: News & Politics

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maersk union port tacoma sds students for democratic society picket line jobs with justice seattle

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lfalcock (6 months ago)

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bucko60 (1 year ago) Show Hide

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unions = forced socialism

NYPDmos (1 year ago) Show Hide

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Long-shoremen are skilled labor - this is apples and oranges - todays unions are destroying this country and these jobs will go overseas. Decent salary for a security guard? This will only lead to TSA taking over these jobs - these security guards will be working in Wal-Mart before you know it. Why not get and education and take a law enforcement exam?

Acumensch (11 months ago) Show Hide

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Exactly how are longshore and port security jobs moving "overseas"? These jobs are specific to the Port of Tacoma, so unless trade activity drops, jobs are staying.

unitedaid (1 year ago) Show Hide

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awesome!

jason c. waite
denton, tx

HrsaILA (1 year ago) Show Hide

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Maersk managed to get an automated terminal opened here in the hampton roads area. They use Automated Yard RMGs which cost hundreds of good jobs to machines. MAERSK SUCKS!

djpdx1 (1 year ago) Show Hide

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These guys are trying to join ILWU local 28 which represents ONLY security officers. The jobs are not difficult to get. They would be unionized Securitas employees-they don't lose their jobs. They are far and away the lowest paid employees on the harbor and they want only a decent paycheck, benefits and job protection. From a billion dollar shipper. How sad that people criticize THEM!

djpdx1 (1 year ago) Show Hide

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We are not longshore but employees of the Ports of Portland, Oregon and Tacoma, Washington. We also represent the Portland Convention Center and Kaiser Permenante security officers. We are the "Protective Service Workers" and we represent only security officers. The "company shop" that poorly represented, and abused these poor officers, was thrown out and they now want to join the ILWU, the principal dock workers union. What is wrong with that? Better pay, benefits, and job security. Period.

GaryBrownILWU (1 year ago) Show Hide

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I boned the cleaning lady

daveantd1971 (10 months ago) Show Hide

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i be you did

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Bosses Don't Choose Unions, Workers Do

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