SALON

Tuesday, Nov 20, 2012 9:30 PM UTC

Calif pickets disrupts activity at Port of Oakland

By

Topics: From the Wires,

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Custodial and maintenance workers picketed Tuesday at one of the nation’s busiest ports, blocking trucks from picking up and delivering goods on what had been expected to be a busy day before the holidays.

Ships waited at six of the seven terminals at the Port of Oakland, as intermittent rain soaked hundreds of angry workers who carried signs and blocked entrances during the one-day protest over stalled contract talks.

Passing motorists blared horns and supporters pounded drums as strikers chanted, “Shut it down, we’re a union town!”

“We’re letting management and the public know that they can’t treat us like that,” said Lynn Riordan, a communications staffer for Service Employees International Union Local 1021.

Across town, dozens of additional service union members picketed at Oakland International Airport after walking off their jobs late Monday. Those employees are covered under the same contract as port workers.

No flights were affected, port spokesman Isaac Kos-Read said.

The port declared an impasse in negotiations in May, and the two sides were scheduled to meet on Nov. 29. The talks broke down amid issues involving pay, benefits and a demand by the port that custodial and maintenance workers contribute to their retirement fund.

Numerous dockworkers, who load and unload cargo vessels, refused to cross the picket line at the port as a show of solidarity with the protesting workers.

“These service workers have effectively shut down the port,” said Jack Heyman, a retired longshoreman from Oakland who chairs the International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s transport workers solidarity committee.

Dozens of truck drivers decided not to interrupt the protest.

“What can you do?” David Soria, a driver for Modesto-based Rocha Transportation, said as he waited to drop off a shipment of wine. “My company told me to stay, so I’ll stay. And wait.”

Kos-Read said it was unfortunate that truckers were forced to stop work and wait in the rain.

The port handles roughly about 2.3 million cargo containers a year, generating about $300 million in revenue. Officials, however, say the facility is $1.3 billion in debt.

The service union, which represents electricians, clerical workers, security personnel and janitors, claimed the port is withholding requested financial information. The union also said port officials have implemented unilateral changes during bargaining sessions.

“We’re showing you that if you don’t take us seriously, we have the ability to shut down the port,” said Gary Jimenez, a union vice president.

The protest marked the latest work stoppage at the port within the past 12 months. Occupy Oakland demonstrators shut it down twice last year.

More Terry Collins.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • This photo. President Barack Obama has a laugh during the unveiling of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Tx., Thursday. Former first lady Barbara Bush, who candidly admitted this week we've had enough Bushes in the White House, is unamused.
    Reuters/Jason Reed

  • Rescue workers converge Wednesday in Savar, Bangladesh, where the collapse of a garment building killed more than 300. Factory owners had ignored police orders to vacate the work site the day before.
    AP/A.M. Ahad

  • Police gather Wednesday at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to honor campus officer Sean Collier, who was allegedly killed in a shootout with the Boston Marathon bombing suspects last week.
    AP/Elise Amendola

  • Police tape closes the site of a car bomb that targeted the French embassy in Libya Tuesday. The explosion wounded two French guards and caused extensive damage to Tripoli's upscale al-Andalus neighborhood.
    AP/Abdul Majeed Forjani

  • Protestors rage outside the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday following the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi. The girl was allegedly kidnapped and tortured before being abandoned in a locked room for two days.
    AP/Manish Swarup

  • Clarksville, Mo., residents sit in a life boat Monday after a Mississippi River flooding, the 13th worst on record.
    AP/Jeff Roberson

  • Workers pause Wednesday for a memorial service at the site of the West, Tx., fertilizer plant explosion, which killed 14 people and left a crater more than 90 feet wide.
    AP/The San Antonio Express-News, Tom Reel

  • Aerial footage of the devastation following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province last Saturday. At least 180 people were killed and as many as 11,000 injured in the quake.
    AP/Liu Yinghua

  • On Wednesday, Hazmat-suited federal authorities search a martial arts studio in Tupelo, Miss., once operated by Everett Dutschke, the newest lead in the increasingly twisty ricin case. Last week, President Barack Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R.-Miss., and a Mississippi judge were each sent letters laced with the deadly poison.
    AP/Rogelio V. Solis

  • The lighting of Freedom Hall at the George W. Bush Presidential Center Thursday is celebrated with (what else but) red, white and blue fireworks.
    AP/David J. Phillip

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
“This could be a career ender for Michele Bachmann”
189 points190 points | 88 comments
vote
Are millennials delusional? New research suggests that members of "Generation Me" are warped by a profound sense of entitlement
32 points33 points | 29 comments
vote
"New evidence reveals big banks still illegally foreclosing on thousands of homes – and weak settlement allows it."
30 points31 points | comment
vote
6 insidious ways you’re getting ripped off … And how to fight back
29 points30 points | 4 comments
vote
"Contrary to the myth of the happy, apple-cheeked great-great-grandmother, cooking has rarely been seen as a source of fulfillment, historically speaking." DIY domesticity, femivores, and refutations on the impacts of feminism on fast-food culture.
31 points32 points | 21 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "The Shelter Cycle": Raised in a cult

Recommendations