Ultimately, whatever the ILWU 10 local may want, the other union leaders up and down the coast have a main priority of keeping their members in good jobs with good benefits. (The parent union also has purse strings to pull on compensation, for workers in a local that doesn’t work its shift. ILWU 10 can’t keep this up indefinitely.)
It’s not in the union’s interest to see the Oakland situation develop into a standoff in which SSA Marine has to consider bringing in picket-line crossers. The “picket line” in question isn’t a labor picket line. And the ILWU is no longer affiliated with the AFL-CIO, so it lacks that political backing; if politicians got involved with this as a political-economic issue for their constituents, the commitment of even Bay-area stalwarts like Barbara Boxer and Jerry Brown to “Palestinian” radicalism would fail the test.
The BDS activists are the most expendable comrades in this mix – and even the most radical-friendly unions can probably be divided from them if push comes to shove. That said, readers will not be surprised to learn that the usual suspects showed up for the protests this weekend.
One Tweep, using the hashtag #BlocktheBoat, was way into the cool Black Panther flag being waved by some of the protesters.
Another, urging people to come out and swell the dwindling crowd on Monday evening, wanted to make sure they were bringing plenty of U.S. flags to burn.
(There was, apparently, a noticeable loss of participation by Monday evening.)
Perennial BDSer Paul Larudee, co-founder of the Free Palestine Movement, managed as usual to convey false information about what was going on.
And, as CIF Watch points out with photographic evidence, there were the inevitable protesters waving a Hamas flag, ranged alongside the mere “pro-Palestinians” and assorted anti-globalists and Occupy activists.