A Public Gathering of Education and Music

When the union's inspiration through the workers blood shall run There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun. Solidarity Forever!

Tacoma GMB will hold a gathering for working people on May 24, 2008. More information is available in these two event posts:

1. Tacoma Wobblyfest 2008 - A Poor and Working People's Gathering (Part 1)
2. Tacoma Wobblyfest 2008 - A Poor and Working People's Gathering (Part 2)

MAERSK STRIKE! -- PORT OF TACOMA - By Acumensch, from YouTube - November 8, 2007

http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=DRKOYrE8XUo

An unannounced wildcat strike was called to push the administration of Maersk (headquarters in Tacoma) to allow union workers to join the union of their choice instead of the union the company requires them to be members of,Securitas, which doesn't provide or bargain for workers' basic needs.

MAERSK UNION STRIKE IN TACOMA - By Tacoma SDS, Indymedia- November 8, 2007

http://seattle. indymedia. org/en/2007/ 11/262632. shtml

An unannounced wildcat strike was called to push the administration of Maersk (headquarters in Tacoma) to allow union workers to join the union of their choice instead of the union the company requires them to be members of, Securitas, which doesn't provide or bargain for workers' basic needs.

The strike at the Port of Tacoma yesterday was unannounced publicly, to catch the company off-guard and to require an arbitrator from the longshoremens' union (ILWU) to come to the port and declare the picket line the Maersk workers staged was unsafe to cross. Jobs With Justice organized the strike. Tacoma SDS and other community members who heard about it went to the port to show solidarity.

Maersk is the largest shipping company in the world, Adam Hoyt said. Its North American headquarters are located in Tacoma. The workers are not granted basic needs that other union workers are, such as a pension plan. Workers are forced to join the Securitas union which is acts as a pacifier to the union workers. Maersk has tried its hardest to convince workers Securitas is a good union, and that other unions are dangerous.

Tacoma P.D. singled out Tacoma SDS members and asked for identification and phone numbers. There were no physical confrontations, but our group felt it was unfair and absurd that officers would single out SDS without any reasonable suspicion. They asked us if we were attending the Smash Tacoma ICE protest, trying to glean information about it. We told them we would not consent to any of their questions or searches. Officer Darlington said the port has been the site of conspiracies to conduct
terrorism. "People ride jetskis next to tankers and then they speed off in the other direction," he said. Tacoma SDS was not convinced.

(Editor's note: some of the members of SDS are also members of the IWW).  

SACRIFICE: REPORT ON OUR EVENT

13th ANNUAL NORTHWEST REGIONAL INTERNATIONAL DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH LEONARD PELTIER MARCH. RALLY AND AFTER RALLY GET TOGETHER FOR JUSTICE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2006, TACOMA

“There are a lot of nights I lie in my cell and I cannot understand why this hell and this terror I have been going through for 21 years (30 years now) hasn’t ended. But yet I know in my heart that someone has to pay a sacrifice to make things better for our people. The sacrifice I have made, when I really sit down to think about it, is nothing compared to what our people of 100 years ago, or 50 years ago or 25 years ago made. Some gave their lives. Some had to stand there and watch their children die in their arms. So the sacrifice I have made is nothing compared to those. I have gone too far now to start backing down. I don’t give up, not until my people are free will I give up. If I have to sacrifice some more then I sacrifice some more.” Leonard Peltier