Sending a message at the ports.

• Author: Beck, Chris
• Position: Thinking Economically

Ports up and down the West Coast were shut down or disrupted December 12, 2011 in a day of demonstrations organized by the Occupy movement to protest police repression and union-busting.

The call for the December 12 West Coast Port Shutdown originated in Oakland, where the high point of a general strike call on November 2 one week after a savage police attack on the Occupy Oakland encampment was a 15,000-strong march to the Port of Oakland and a community picket that stopped work on the evening shift.

The December 12 protests were seen by many activists as a next step for the movement in the wake of the coordinated attack on Occupy camps in one city after another--as well as an important gesture of solidarity with workers on the docks who are fighting for basic union rights and to defend wages and benefits against some of the world's most powerful and profitable corporations.

Unions at the ports, including the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Teamsters, did not sanction the call for a shutdown, and some labor officials were critical of the Occupy movement's initiative.

But rank-and-file members of both the ILWU and Teamsters were part of the organizing for December 12 and were well represented on the picket lines. The ILWU also has a tradition of recognizing community picket lines and stopping work if a port arbitrator declares a hazard to workers' safety--which is what led to full or partial shutdowns at several ports.

The biggest protests of the day were in Oakland, where the country's fifth-busiest port came to a halt for both the daytime and evening shifts.

The day began before dawn with more than 500 demonstrators marching from a nearby public transit station to the docks, where they split up to cover the most important entrances. Despite the rain and cold, spirits were upbeat and optimistic, with participants from other Occupy movements swelling the ranks of Oakland residents.

In contrast to the November 2 general strike day, the police had a big presence. But if they hoped to intimidate the picketers at port entrances, their efforts failed.

As usual, the media searched out truck drivers who would complain about the Occupy protesters for blockading them. Most port drivers are considered independent operators, and some claim the movement is targeting the wrong people. But at the Oakland docks, activists reported far more support from drivers than opposition.

By 10 am, the ILWU had asked a port arbitrator to decide if the community picket represented a safety hazard. When word arrived among demonstrators that workers had headed home and the port was shut down for the morning, there was an enthusiastic celebration. The union later said in a statement that 150 of its 200 members had been sent home.

A larger number of protesters reconvened in the afternoon at Frank Ogawa Plaza--renamed Oscar Grant Plaza by the Occupy movement--in preparations for picketing the evening shift at the docks.

Around 4 pm, hundreds of protesters left the plaza for the march back to the docks...