Calendar

9896
May
5
Sat
Brooms Collective — Mission District Clean Up, 11:30 AM @ Mission District
May 5 @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

In response to the May 1st vandalism of small businesses and private property in this largely working class neighborhood, we at the Brooms Collective are planning on gathering at the 16th Street Mission BART Station at 11:30 on Saturday morning to participate in a neighborhood clean-up and outreach action. Many people seem to believe that these deplorable actions were attributable to supporters of the Occupy Movement, and even Occupy Oakland in particular. Many of us in the Brooms Collective found this truly senseless destruction wholly out of step with our beliefs, political, social or otherwise, and we believe that many others feel the same way. An action such as this is the only way that we could even hope to repair the damage that was done in the name of a movement that many of us believe would never have condoned it in the first place.

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Mar
15
Fri
RALLY TO DEFEND ILWU ! International Day Of Action @ 1 Montgomery/Market in SF
Mar 15 @ 11:30 pm – Mar 16 @ 1:30 am

RALLY   TO   DEFEND   ILWU !

International Day Of Action  

Stop Mitsui Union Busting and Concessionary Contracts

Fight the Lockout of ILWU by United Grain

in the Port of Vancouver, Washington

                       

Friday March 15, 2013 –  4:30PM

1 Montgomery/Market Sts., SF

 

On March 15, 2013 there will be international actions and protests against the union busting lockout of ILWU Local 4 members by the Mitsui-owned company United Grain in the Port Of Vancouver, Washington.

Since the concessionary contract at EGT in Longview, Washington, other grain handlers have imposed a similar contract in NW grain ports after longshore workers voted 94% to reject it. The contract eliminated the union hiring hall, imposed a 12 hour day and allowed the replacement of union members if they stopped work for health and safety reasons. The other anti-union grain monopoly Cargill/Temco signed a separate agreement which includes many of these draconian measures which is being heralded by union officials as a “victory” because, they say, Cargill is American-owned. Longshore workers  in Portland, the West Coast’s largest grain port, voted that concessionary contract down.

Already there have been fires and dangerous accidents working under these contracts.

Mitsui-owned United Grain locked out the ILWU members and have brought in scabs who have been training for many months to bust the ILWU. This attack on the union hiring hall, a key victory of the 1934 West Coast Maritime strike, is a major defeat for  members of the ILWU and all workers whether in unions or not. This also whets the appetite of all maritime bosses who are want to impose EGT-type concessions in 2014 when the West Coast longshore contract expires.

The ILWU International leadership, using racist, flag-waving nationalism, is attacking Japanese capitalist bosses like they did during the lockout of ILWU Local 30 miners who were locked out in Boron, California by British-based Rio Tinto. This is a reactionary diversion. Only international labor solidarity actions can  beat these union busters. Many companies are global. Whether British-owned company, Japanese-owned or American-owned, these companies are intent on destroying union labor here and around the world.

The ILWU Local 8 Executive Board in Portland and Japanese Doro-Chiba railway union have taken the initiative to call for action against Mitsui in solidarity with ILWU grain workers. The Transport Workers Solidarity Committee (TWSC) is supporting this International Day of Action.

Join us on Friday March 15th at 4:30 PM at 1 Montgomery Street in San Francisco at the headquarters of Mitsui in California. Let them know: Union busting is disgusting!

For more information go to www.transportworkers.org    Or call 510-501-7080

47687
Apr
6
Sat
Fuck the Police March #FTP April,5,2013 @ Oscar Grant Plaza
Apr 6 @ 2:00 am – 5:00 am

FUCK THE POLICE MARCH

14 and broadway 7:00pm
FTP 3.0 – FUCK THE POLICE Take our pigs for a walk. They need the exercise. And it only costs the city $50K a week!
*** This event is being called by the Occupy Oakland Tactical Action Committee. It might continue weekly.
The Tactical Action Committee was approved by Occupy Oakland’s GA to perform autonomous actions at their discretion. In that sense it is not an “official” Occupy Oakland event, in the sense that it was not directly, but indirectly, approved through the GA.***
IMPORTANT NOTE:  NV folks are welcome, this is a peaceful protest — whatever that means.
FTP March, Iteration – Tactical Parameters
Due to the fact that most of our internal issues on each march and action to date have come from a lack of information on what the tactical parameters of a particular action are expected to be, TAC will be calling for tactical parameters on this and all future FTP marches that may change as we learn and practice our skills in the streets.
Note that these are the wishes by the callers of the march. In the interests of solidarity please respect these parameters. These are being called for this march only. This goes both ways — please be respectful enough of the event to not pursue certain actions at this time if they are being put on the “please don’t” list; likewise, if you are uncomfortable with someone performing an action that is acceptable within the march parameters DO NOT INTERFERE with them. This is respect for diversity of tactics, and also proper solidarity in the face of our common enemy. There will come a day that this practice, discipline and restraint will serve us well as a unit.
If you cannot follow the parameters DO NOT ATTEND. They will be read before the march during the rally. People will be given the opportunity to back out if they feel they cannot respect the tactics, with no loss of face.
So, for this march, TAC is asking for the following:
SHIELDS: If you have the capability and the will to march in the front line, make a shield to carry for this Saturday’s action.
NO DAMAGE TO PRIVATE PROPERTY of any kind — people’s cars, any Oakland businesses (especially small businesses – but the Starbucks that was hit last time actually gives free coffee and food to our vigil so we prefer to leave all of them out at this time).
PROPERTY THAT IS FAIR GAME IF YOU ARE SO INCLINED – police vehicles and equipment. The police are not our friends, never have been, and never will be.
NO FRONTAL ASSAULTS ON THE POLICE – i.e., no bottle throwing. Defensive actions are fully accepted and encouraged. Shields, unarresting, disarming cops that are beating comrades, etc. MAKE THE POLICE STRIKE THE FIRST BLOW.
SPLIT-OFF MARCHES AND AUTONOMOUS ACTIONS ARE NOT DISCOURAGED. If you do decide to go your own route, please respect the above parameters. Large banks, huge international corporations that run this city with their money, political organization HQ such as the Democrat campaign office or the chamber of commerce are not considered private property for the purposes of the parameters. If you decide to split off, do your autonomous actions away from the main march, not right next to it.
We are not encouraging anyone to attack any property whatsoever, but some property is more acceptable than others if you really must risk your freedom by doing something of that nature.
FIRE CAN BE FUN – if you want to burn a usa flag in the street (that isn’t somebody’s car) then more power to you. If someone is burning a flag in the street then DO NOT INTERFERE.

BLOC UP: If you hear the shout, “Bloc up!” Or “Tighten up!” It is in your best interest to clump together with the main group in tight formation. Be aware of distance and do not string out along the march route. Do not give the police an opportunity to snatch you and plant evidence on you to conflate charges with.
And to repeat:
NO INTERFERING IN OTHER PEOPLE’S ACTIONS EVEN IF YOU DO NOT PERSONALLY AGREE WITH THEM. Do not yell stop. Do not grab your comrades. If you feel unsafe, move away. The parameters listed above are for our own use so that we can hold one another accountable afterwards for things that may not have gone according to plan. But in the face of the enemy WE SHOW FULL SOLIDARITY. Afterwards we can argue about stuff. Not during the action.
We are all adults. We are all comrades. We have a common enemy and we will have to learn to work as a unit. Following the action parameters on each FTP march should mitigate the fighting and problems we have consistently had after every action to date.
Thank you for your cooperation.
***
The Oakland Police Department has harassed and brutalized Occupy Oakland and participants in the vigil. Camps and liberated foreclosed buildings have been raided and shut down. OOers at the vigil have been arrested for as little as standing nearby when the police decide to raid, all the way up to the ridiculous charge of lynching. People have been physically assaulted by those supposed to protect and serve, but only do so in the interests of the 1%.
With dozens of our comrades having been arrested in the past couple of weeks, and culminating in the city’s revocation of the vigil’s permit and the immediate threat of another police raid to clear the plaza, the time has come to rise up and let them know what we think of them and that we will no longer meekly accept their violations of our civil and human rights.
Spread the word, send the invite, join us as we march in solidarity against police repression.
Wear black Bring shields if you are able and willing
Rally at 7:00 pmMarch on OPD HQ at 9:00 pm
THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING OCCUPY OAKLANDSOLIDARITY

We are Anonymous,

We are legion,

We never forgive,

We never forget,

Expected us.

 

47298
Mar
31
Tue
Which Way For the ILWU – Militant Unionism or Business Unionism?
Mar 31 @ 7:00 pm

Which way for the ILWU-

Militant Unionism or Business Unionism?

 
— Hear ILWU Longshore Activists Speak on the Recent Longshore Contract Negotiations
— Open Discussion on the Tentative Agreement 
–Longshore Members & Caucus delegates invited (EVERYONE IS WELCOME!)
 
WHEN: TUESDAY, MARCH 31 @ 7PM
WHERE: 1187 Franklin St., SF (across the street from ILWU International Headquarters)

 

 
The ILWU has a proud history of class struggle and the fight for democratic principles codified in the Ten Guiding Principles of the ILWU. Today ILWU officials flaunt these union principles, using top down control to direct longshore workers to cross picket lines and keep contract negotiations secret while the PMA gives the contract to the maritime employers’ Journal Of Commerce. This contract gives employers a free hand to automate without counter demands of shorter shifts tied to wage increases and follows on the tail of the concessionary grain contracts at EGT and the Northwest Grain agreements. Left unchecked, it will gut ILWU’s coastwide power and bury arguably the last militant union in the United States.

 

Speakers:
Anthony Leviege, activist member ILWU Local 10
Stacey Rodgers, Executive Board member ILWU Local 10
Jack Mulcahy*, member ILWU Local 8 Portland, grain negotiator
Dan Coffman*, former president of Longview ILWU Local 21
– Howard Keylor, retired member of ILWU Local 10, an organizer of the historic 1984 longshore anti-apartheid strike
Jack Heyman, retired member of ILWU Local 10, organizer of militant port actions
* speaking by skype
 
 
Organized by the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee (www.transportworkers.org)

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