A-Infos UPDATE! (as of 2 AM 5/11) -- Scab Cargo Alert!!! (fwd)

[Steve O <intexile@bari.iww.org>]

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It is now 4:40 PM Monday, May 11.  There is STILL no update on this
situation.  Stand By.  We'll pass the info along as soon as we hear of
anything.

If you know of anything, e-mail me or call (510) 845-0540 immediately.
I'll be at this terminal for at least four hours, or when we locate the
ship, whichever comes first.

Also, if you know when the Columbus Canda is due in Seattle (or any other
location), please pass that info along as well.

Thank you for your solidarity and patience....

(As of Last night):

As far as we know, the ship remains in Los Angeles.  It's a 20 hour trip
to Oakland.  It could arrive Monday, but we're not sure.

The earliest picket that would take place in Oakland would be Monday, May
11, 1998 at 4:30 PM, Location TBD of course.

We remain on Stand-By until we learn more.  Keep checking the following
phone number (510) 845-0540 for further updates.  

Pass this on to everyone you know!

BTW, folks in Seattle, Portland, Hawaii, and Vancouver should be prepared
to mobilize at a moment's notice.  Don't assume that the Columbus Canada
won't come to your town!  Folks in Eureka and Coos Bay should be on alert
as well, though I don't know if container facilities are located nearby.

* URGENT! * URGENT! * URGENT! * URGENT! * URGENT! * 

Fellow Workers, Comrades, Friends, Fellow Travelers, and assorted
Individuals:

This message is very urgent.  I'll give you background at the end of the
post.  I realize that some of you may receive multiple copies.  Note 
to folks in Eureka, Coos Bay, Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver:  If
it doesn't dock in Oakland, the scab ship may head towards you next. 
Be on alert.  Please forward this to everyone appropriate you know.


FWD From <liam@iww.org>

ALERT!  ALERT!  ALERT!

The scab cargo ship Columbus Canada is currently being picketed by 1500
people in the Port of LA. The ship will probably head to the Port of
Oakland next. For updated info call 510-845-0540 after 5pm
Saturday(today).

It ain't over yet!

LIAM FLYNN
SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE FOR THE AUSTRALIAN WHARFIES

*** BE READY TO MOVE AT A MOMENT'S NOTICE! ***

We do not know when that ship will arrive.  It could be as early as
tonight or it may never come to Oakland.  Besides calling (510) 845-0540
with updates, you can also:

Tune into Free Radio Berkeley 104.1 FM in Berkeley, Albany, Emeryville,
and north Oakland.  If you have updates you'd like announced on the air,
you can call the studio at (510) 594-8082 (but note that not all
programmers will take you seriously--there's nothing that can be done
about that--just work weith the situation).

If you live in San Francisco west of Twin Peaks, you can tune in San
Francisco Liberation Radio at 93.7 FM.  I do not know the studio line
there. 

If you want to be called or e-mailed on a moment's notice about this,
either e-mail me your phone number or leave it on our machine.  We'll do
everything we can

You can help by calling your friends and asking them to call theirs and so
forth.

 *** More info from Deke ***

More information can be found on the WWW at:

http://www.iww.org/iu510/alert1.html
and http://www.iww.org/

FTW, --Deke

*** Background ***

Some of you may have been following the recent Wharfies strike/lockout
situation in Austalia.  For those of you who didn't essentially 2000
Australian longshoremen (like the dockers in Liverpool) were sacked by the
Patrick's Stevedoring company with help from the right-wing Australian
government.  The MUA (Maratime Union of Australia) fought back with
militant rank & file solidarity and gained support from the labor movement
and common people in Asutralia.  

Because of these efforts, the company has been ordered to rehire the
sacked union workers, but the company is stalling and trying to use
loopholes in the law used to order the rehiring to sneak out of htis
defeat they suffered.  Some ships loaded by scab labor are on their way to
the US.  One has tried to dock in LA, but has met resistencve in the form
of a mass picket of 1500 or so community & labor activists.

If the ship is turned away from LA, it will most likely come to Oakland
next.  WE CAN'T LET THAT HAPPEN!

The global shipping companies are trying to bust waterfront unions who,
due to their history as militant rank & file controlled unionists and
their strategic position in the so-called "global economy", are one of the
major obsticals standing in the way of the proposed MAI agreement.  The
global elite would love bust the waterfront unions everywhere, and so far
they've been quite successful in Latin America and England.  The Liverpool
Dockers suffered at the hands of this onslaught and the Australian
Wharfies were the next target.

Thanks to the tenacity of the Liverpool Dockers,  and the publicity
generated by their brave struggle, the Austrailian Wharfies were inspired
to fight back and prepared for the bosses attacks.  No doubt the Neptune
Jade pickets that took place last October in Oakland also fired up the
Australian Wharfies and the folks in Los Angeles. 

If we are prepared, we can turn this ship away too.  The labor movement
will almost assuredly suffer a major defeat if the bosses are successful
in busting the Australian unions.  If the Wharfies union is busted,
they'll come after the US Longshoremen (ILWU & ILA) next.

Global Solidarity is needed now more than ever.

Thanks for your support.

-FW Steve x344543
Berkeley IWW / Branch Secretary Droid

Forest Workers Unite!  http://www.iww.org/iu120/local/




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