Lessons From the ILWU Battle Against EGT in Longview And the Struggle Ahead

An ongoing union-busting drive is being waged against the ILWU, one of the most militant unions in the United States, from Bush’s invoking of Taft-Hartley during the 2002 lockout by PMA to Obama’s sending an armed Coast Guard vessel to escort a scab ship to the EGT dock in Longview, Washington.

The Occupy Wall Street movement was instrumental in building solidarity for port truckers and longshore workers during the Longview struggle. Shackled with a concessionary EGT grain contract, the ILWU now faces negotiations for a master grain agreement. The Northwest Grainhandler’s Association has notified the union that it is terminating its agreement. Will employers demand the EGT contract? How will that impact the major container ports in Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma?

What are the lessons of the recent ILWU struggles as well as the Boron miners Rio Tinto struggle? How will this effect the organized labor movement in this country in the midst of the worst capitalist economic crisis in decades?

Come hear ILWU union activists discuss the class struggle today.

SPEAKERS:

Mike Fuqua, ILWU Local 21 Longview*
Clarence Thomas, ILWU Local 10*
Howard Keylor, ILWU Local 10 retired
Jack Mulcahy, ILWU Local 8 Portland* invited
Jack Heyman, ILWU Local 10 retired
Robbie Donohoe, Occupy Oakland Labor Solidarity Committee and IBEW Local 6*

* for identification only