Why the International Longshore Workers Union Defends Palestine
This presentation was part of a program by ILWU Local 10, on February 24, 2024. Other speakers included Angela Davis, former international union president, Brian McWilliams, San Francisco Palestinian leaders, Monadel Herzallah and Dr. Jess Ghannam, and others.
Good afternoon, my name is Beau Logo. I am a rank-and-file member of ILWU Local 10. Some of you may wonder what skin in the game we have with this genocide in Palestine. Or what does my job have to do with this conflict? Why, as a laborer, am I risking my livelihood for something happening overseas? By a show of hands, how many people in this room work and collect a W2?
Well, as tax-paying Americans, we are unwillingly funding and supporting this genocide. We send billions of dollars to support Israel every year. We build the bombs, we build the planes, we create the technology, and amongst other things, we ship everything overseas. See, our elders like Harry Bridges understood the importance of our position in the supply chain. As dock workers, we are the gatekeepers to not only our local economy but the global economy, and with great opportunity comes great responsibility.
I am proud of Local 10, local 5, local 6, Inland Boatmen Union, San Francisco and Sothern California, ILWU Canada, and various pensioners in ILWU, all of whom have passed ceasefire resolutions—these stand with our long-time solidarity with Palestine. I hope to hear from more locals speaking up and ultimately have international support from entities like United Auto Workers and United Electrical Workers.
The next step in this journey is educating the membership and building community solidarity to ultimately have direct actions that force change. Take a look at the past. In 1984, Local 10 struck a ship carrying South African cargo at Pier 80. The longshoreman started the action, but it was the community who kept it going for 11 days. Now that’s solidarity! Our union, the ILWU, used to be considered the most radical Union, from rumored sunken Nazi ships, to not shipping scrap metal to Japan in WWII, refusing to load weaponry heading to Central America, refusal to unload ships loaded by scab labor during the Liverpool dock worker strikes, having a coast shut down opposing the Afghanistan war. Shutting down the port in 2022 for police brutality, along with countless other actions. This is what we do, and this is what my generation of dock workers must continue to do. We must maintain that resistance for Humanity.
Here in the Bay Area, we have had great solidarity at the Ports. To be truly effective in future actions, we must expand—reach out to other locals, specifically ones in which Zim [Israeli shipping line] feels comfortable going. As far as I see it, as long as genocide and apartheid are being carried out on Palestinians, Zim shouldn’t feel comfortable docking anywhere.
“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.” I am quoting my Union sibling Angela Davis. These words fit this crisis perfectly. None of us should accept this situation. I’m confident that with our solidarity and our direct actions, we will see a free Palestine in our lifetime.
Watch the video of the whole program on YouTube at: