May Day celebration draws labor activists

The spirit of labor leader Harry Bridges could be felt in San Francisco May 1, as members of his union celebrated International Workers Day with a call for renewed resistance to exploitation, racism and war.

Keith Shanklin

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Locals 10 and 34 and the Million Worker March Movement held a rally at a plaza named after Bridges, the renowned ILWU leader who led the militant labor strike of 1934. About 150 labor activists and supporters gathered to reclaim May Day.

Trent Willis, ILWU Local 10 president and one of the founders of the Million Worker March Movement, remembered the workers who were killed demonstrating at Chicago’s Haymarket Square and the labor leaders who were hung by the government afterwards.

Trent Willis

“Working people saw the need for the eight-hour work day so they could come home to their families instead of being worked to death,” Willis said. “We pay homage to those who sacrificed their lives, just as those who sacrificed fighting for the [Local 10] union hall down the street.”

“May Day is about organizing,” said ILWU Local 34 President Richard Cavalli. “That’s the way we put pressure on the government, the way we keep Social Security in place. The only way workers of this world can get the job done is to organize.”

Patricia Jackson of Hands Off Social Security and the Grey Panthers said the Bush administration would try to divide workers just as it sought to pit elders and youths against each other. She said California Republican Congressperson Bill Thomas is the point person to attack not only Social Security, but also pensions, long-term health care and all aspects of retirement. “We won’t let that happen,” she said.

Shane Hoff

Willis and MWMM organizer Keith Shanklin of ILWU Local 34 chaired the rally. Others who spoke included Harold Brown, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555; Alan Hollie, community liaison of ATU Local 1555; Alan Benjamin, San Francisco Labor Council delegate, AFL-CIO; Ralph Schoenman, UAW 1981; and Dick Becker, ANSWER. The ILWU drill team also marched in formation.

Shane Hoff of the San Francisco Bus Drivers United Transportation Union Local 1741 and the International Action Center praised the Million Worker March Movement, which organized thousands of people to march in Washington, D.C., last October.

“The leaders of the Million Worker March stood up and walked up a steep hill of threats, backstabbing and attacks to do what needed to be done,” Hoff said. “They have earned the right to give leadership because nothing important in the liberation of masses has ever been achieved without taking risks and being brave.”

Hoff thanked the MWMM for making the reclaiming of May Day one of its top priorities.