On May Day 2013 ILWU N. CA Retirees Of Local 10,34 & 91 Close Mitsui Facility

On May Day 2013 ILWU N. CA Retirees Of Local 10,34 & 91 Close Mitsui Facility
by Jack Heyman, Retired ILWU Local 10 member
jackheyman@comcast.net
Celebrating May Day 2013 about 40 Bay Area retirees of the ILWU Longshore Division Locals 10, 34 and 91- picketed Berth 30 in the Port of Oakland. We were following the lead of Tacoma retirees who the previous day protested the PMA employers' stealing medical insurance from ILWU pensioners, surviving spouses and children. Medical claims are being denied and delayed in violation of the contract. Two ships at the Mitsui facility, MOL Excellence and the APL Qatar, were not worked for the entire day shift. Longshoremen, TRAPAC mechanics and clerks who showed up for work were surprised by the picket line of some 40 retirees. They saw the signs and read the leaflets of the picketers and decided not to cross the picket line protesting PMA's robbery of their union brothers' vested health insurance earned after years of blood and sweat on the waterfront. As the Pacific Coast Pensioners Association leaflet stated, "........we will not let this stand without a fight!"

As an added bonus retirees sent a message to Mitsui, the PMA company, has locked out Local 4 longshoremen in Vancouver, WA and brought in scabs to do ILWU work for the last two months, undermining our jurisdiction and all of our benefits. Union busting will not be tolerated in the West Coast ports where Mitsui's MOL ships call nearly every day. Retirees have risen to the challenge. Now it's up to the active longshoremen to carry the ball. Remember the two slogans: "An Injury to One is an Injury to All!" and "Never Cross a Picket Line!"