Ports closing to protest racism
Eight-hour stoppage is meant to mark end of slavery in U.S., union says
VANCOUVER— Dock workers at 35 ports along the entire West Coast of the United States and Canada — from San Diego to Stewart, B.C. — will take part in an eight-hour work stoppage Friday in protest of systemic racism and racial injustice.
The International Longshore & Warehouse Union has chosen Friday to carry out the protest to coincide with Juneteenth, the day celebrated annually by African-Americans in commemoration of the end of slavery.
“Juneteenth has long been recognized by the African-American community, but for many others it was unknown until now — as our nation, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, refocuses on ways to address ongoing, systemic racial injustice,” Willie Adams, president of ILWU International, said in a statement this week.
Founded in the 1930s, the ILWU, headquartered in San Francisco, has a long history of activism. Its members refused to unload cargo from South Africa when that nation was under apartheid rule. It made civil rights leader Martin Luther King an honorary member in the 1960s. In 2008, dockworkers in the U.S. held a one-day work stoppage in protest of the war in Iraq.
“Their whole history is one of looking at a bigger picture,” said Joey Hartman, chair of the board of the B.C. Labour Heritage Centre. Still, Hartman said she couldn’t recall a time when dockworkers agreed to a work stoppage that encompassed the entire coast of Canada and the U.S.
“This is a hugely significant action.”
It is difficult to quantify what sort of impact the disruption will have economically.
But Ken Peacock, chief economist with the Business Council of B.C., said it likely will not be as severe as the anti-pipeline blockades that took place earlier in the year or previous strikes and lockouts during which there was a concern about traffic being diverted to competing ports.
“This is planned. All ports are closing together,” he said.
Still, “The timing is a bit of a concern just because our world is in upheaval and turmoil” due to the fallout from the COVID-19 health crisis, he said.
The council released its updated economic outlook for the province Thursday, which projects a 7.8 per cent contraction in provincial GDP this year.
“B.C.’s export sector will be slammed by the steep global recession that is taking hold around the world,” the report says.
But Rob Ashton, president of ILWU Canada, whose members help to move all types of cargo, including lumber, coal, methanol, grains and steel, said Thursday if companies such as Amazon have to lose a day for delivery of products, so be it.
“What we’re saying is we value everybody over economics,” he said. “I’m a white male. I don’t feel racism in my daily life. But I have a lot of friends who are non-white. I can see it in their eyes — about what they have to go through. … We have to change that.”
Mike Leonard, president and CEO of the B.C. Maritime Employers Association, said in a statement it would support the “one-time pause in operations.”
“As British Columbians, as Canadians, we cannot accept racism, hate and intolerance in our communities or in our workplaces,” he said.
Both parties have agreed to add a work shift later this fall to offset Friday’s work stoppage, Leonard added.