The International Longshore and Warehouse Union West Coast local is set to strike:
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has announced a one-day strike against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, calling for a "No Peace No Work Holiday" to take place May 1. They are calling on the AFL-CIO, the Change to Win Coalition, and other unions to do the same. This is a major development for both the labor movement and antiwar movement in the U.S...
The strike will take place on an historic day. May 1, also known as May Day, is International Worker's Day. Unlike much of the rest of the world, mass demonstrations on this day have not been a tradition in the U.S., despite its origins in Chicago in the 1880s.
The United States doesn't commemorate International Worker's Day, preferring instead to salute the nation's workers on Labor Day. That's largely because of the close association between May 1 and international socialism. Strangely, International Worker's Day occurs on May 1 to pay tribute to 'the Chicago Martyrs' -- the labor organizers executed after the Haymarket Riot in 1886. Despite its American origin, May 1 is a day of celebration for communists -- not for most Americans.
So leaving aside the question of why the nation's dockhands are going to strike in support of America's' enemies in Iraq -- and even Afghanistan! -- why would they choose to do so on May 1? I mean, why would any union so clearly signal that it does not have America's interests at heart? Where are the Pinkertons when you need them?
