Peace begins in Port Hueneme

There were no signs. There were no
drums. There were no chants or barricades
or confrontations with law
enforcement. There was only silence.
Dockworkers all along the Pacific
Coast stopped work May 8 - May
Day, recognized as labor day outside
the U.S. - to protest the war in Iraq.
"It's really not a strike, per se,
we're just supporting our troops
and we're protesting against the
war and all wars," said Dan Hultgen,
president of the International
Longshoremen's & Warehousemen's
Union Local 46, the Port of Hueneme
branch of the union representing
laborers responsible for loading
and unloading cargo containers at
ports all across the Pacific Coast of
North America.
Unlike at busier ports such as
those in Los Angeles and Long
Beach, the protest was marked by
silence at the Port of Hueneme,
where no cargo ships were scheduled
to arrive May 8.
The only sign anything out of
the usual was taking place was
Randy Simpson's truck parked outside
the gate to the port. Simpson,
who works for a trucking firm
based in San Diego, had driven up
that morning to Ventura County to
pick up a big rock truck only to discover
when he arrived at the port
that nobody was working.
"I have to sit here until tomorrow
when they come back," said Simpson,
who gets paid for each load he
carries and said he would lose a
day's wages waiting until the next
day to pick up his cargo.
"It's for a good cause, but why
didn't they do this five years ago
when all this started," Simpson said.
Although the ILWU holds rallies
every May Day and has previously
spoken out against the war, Hultgen
said the coordinated effort along the
coast occurred because the continued
cost of the conflict is having an
enormous financial and emotional
impact in the United States.
"It's just getting to the point
now where the war is costing us
so much money it's time to take
a stand," he said. "That's money
that can be spent here in America
on health care, schools, social
security, all of that."
ILWU Local 46 Secretary Dispatcher
Warren Shelton said the
action was appropriate for May Day
because it is a working people's holiday,
and working people are shouldering
the biggest brunt of the war.
"These big corporations - including
some of the ILWU employers -
are profiting from the war, but soldiers,
taxpayers, citizens, we're paying
the price," Shelton said. "Who's
actually paying the price? It's the
working people of America, it's not
the corporations paying the price."
Truckers like Simpson were also
paying the price, Hultgen said.
"They're working people in
America, too," he said. "Look at
their fuel prices. What is this all
stemming from?"
Port of Hueneme Spokesman Will
Berg said the port wasn't impacted
by the protest because no ships were
working there that day. He also said
the action was "well-managed" by
the union.
"While the employers objected
they've been able to make alternative
plans, and here at Hueneme there's
virtually no impact," Berg said.
Employers who operate cargo
lines that serve all the ports on the
Pacific Coast were informed of the
action more than a month ago, the
union said. Shelton said the ILWU
had asked employers to move their
monthly unpaid stop work meeting
day to all be on May 8 (Port Hueneme's
stop work day for May was
originally scheduled for May 2).
"We gave them plenty of notice,"
Shelton said of the effort to move
the meetings, "[The employers] did
not want to do that, they told us no,
they didn't want to work with us, so
this is where we're at."
Even though cargo haulers made
contingency plans to avoid disruptions
to business, Shelton said the
action was still important to bring
the war to the forefront of the public's
attention.
"The real problem is that the politicians
aren't being held accountable
and that's got to change," he
said. "It's all quiet right now. Now
you're hearing about gas, you're
hearing about housing, you're
hearing about inflation, all of this.
Where did that Iraq war, where all
of these problems are stemming
from, go to?
"We weren't in debt eight years
ago. We are now. We're $3 trillion
dollars into the Iraq war. Where
could that $3 trillion have gone to in
the United States to fix the problems
we now have?"
ILWU Local 46 members also
marched as part of an antiwar protest
on May 8 in Oxnard sponsored by the
group Veterans for Peace.