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News :: Labor |
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Champaign County Solidarity With Longshoremen |
Current rating: 0 |
by Peter Miller and Ricky Baldwin
Email: baldwinricky (nospam) hotmail.com (verified)
Phone: (217) 356-2205
Address: 606 W. White St., Champaign, IL 61820 |
17 Oct 2002
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A handful of local activists demonstrated near the Workers' Memorial Oct. 9 in solidarity with West Coast dockworkers and against President Bush's intervention. |
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Champaign County Solidarity with Longshoremen
CHAMPAIGN - A handful of local activists demonstrated their support for West Coast dockworkers at 5:00 pm Wednesday October 9, after President Bush invoked the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act to interfere in the waterfront lockout. Many drivers leaving work along Mattis Avenue honked and waved in support of the Longshoremen. One motorist shouted out, "My prayers are with you!"
"Ronald Reagan broke the air traffic controllers' strike in 1980, and big business spent the next twenty years breaking unions. We can't allow Bush to steal more rights from workers just because big corporations are telling him to do it," said Peter Miller, a local labor activist. "If Bush imposes a contract on anyone, he should impose it on the port owners since they're preventing the workers from returning to their jobs."
The International Longshore and Warehouse Workers' Union (ILWU) has been confronting not only major port owners, but also a coalition of fifty corporations who are urging Bush to force the workers back. The corporate coalition is called the West Coast Waterfront Coalition and includes many prominent national retailers like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target Stores, the Gap, and Payless Shoes.
The demonstration took place outside Parkland College near the Workers' Memorial because one of the major issues facing dock workers is safety. Six west coast dock workers have died on the job in 2002.
The AFL-CIO of Champaign County, representing over ten thousand workers locally, has discussed the dispute during their monthly meetings and is encouraging members to take action in support of the workers. Louie Smith of Bricklayers Local 8 is the president of that group. |
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Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is... |
by Sascha Meinrath
sascha (nospam) ucimc.org (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
17 Oct 2002
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It's good to see a political candidate who is actually out on the front lines. It took me a moment to realize that Carl Estabrook was one of the folks photo-ed, but seeing him out there gives me hope that for politicians whose actions are equal to their rhetoric. |
