West Coast ports shut down in protest

Today, nearly 1,000 rank-and-file unionists, non-union workers, the unemployed, the retired, students, veterans and other members of the 99 percent marched on the Port of Portland, Ore., to shut down “Wall Street on the Waterfront.”

Terminals 4, 5 and 6 were closed by port authorities after access was blocked by Occupy Portland demonstrators in two shifts, at 6:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.  The action was taken in solidarity with the West Coast Port Shutdown movement, ILWU Local 21, and Los Angeles port truck drivers.

“The support from workers at the port has been incredible. We were out at the ports talking to workers multiple times a day during the organizing of this action and today we see them honoring the community picket,” said Jordan McIntyre, a union painter and activist. “Occupy is a place for union members, non-union, and the unemployed to gather together to change the inequality of wealth and power in our system.”

Goldman Sachs, the majority shareholder in Stevedore Services of America, which has full operational management at Terminal 5, was a major target of the demonstrations. LA port truck drivers are in a labor struggle with SSA to end what the drivers term a “sweatshop on wheels.” 17,000 truck drivers in Los  Angeles are on strike to demand the right to organize.

EGT, a multinational grain export corporation and another target of the action, has refused to honor International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 21’s contract in Longview, Wash.