Dockworkers’ power – from Italy to the Bay Area

San Francisco

A labor forum was held on Nov. 8 at the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10 hall in San Francisco. The topic was, “Longshore Power, from Italy to the Bay Area.”

Jack Heyman, an ILWU Local 10 retiree, spoke about his recent visit to a dockworkers’ conference in Genoa, Italy, in late September:  He said, “It was one of the most exciting experiences of my life.” 

On the second day of the conference, dockworkers closed down the port in Genoa. Other ports in Spain, Greece, France, Sweden and Cyprus were also shut down due to the port workers’ refusal to load military cargo going to Israel, protesting the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people. During the conference, an Israeli Zim Lines ship approached Genoa, then turned around when met by throngs of demonstrators. 

Heyman discussed the history of ILWU Local 10 as the “Red and Black union,” so-called because of its many Black members, as well as its left-wing members. He emphasized the importance of “class struggle unionism,” citing examples from the history of longshore workers in the U.S. over the last half century — from the anti-apartheid movement when San Francisco dockworkers refused to unload cargo from South Africa in 1984 to the Liverpool dockers’ struggle of 1996-1998.

Longshore workers fought to defeat anti-union forces in Charleston, South Carolina. The West Coast port shutdown in 1999 was in support of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. The ILWU closed down West Coast ports to protest the U.S. imperialist wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

In Heyman’s speech to European dockworkers, he quoted Nelson Mandela on a world tour after his release from prison. Visiting Oakland, California, Mandela’s first words were: “I commend the longshore union for striking against the ship from South Africa. Your action sparked the anti-apartheid movement in California.” 

David Newton, a Local 10 executive board member and nephew of Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton, spoke about the importance of direct action. He cited the Israeli genocide in Gaza that requires an international response, like that of the dockworkers in Genoa. 

Newton told the audience, “The time of the armchair revolutionary is over.” He highlighted the people in Chicago who are surrounding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and preventing them from disappearing and deporting innocent immigrant people. 

He explained: “When ICE agents try to drag people from their cars and 10 people show up to stop them — some of those 10 will get hurt. But when 100 people show up to stop them, the 100 will most likely prevail.”

Various members of the audience voiced their concerns about the ICE raids. One person from a transportation union in Los Angeles discussed the plight of the bus drivers who were fired for refusing to open their doors to ICE agents.