Israel Zim Line Hit With Pickets-ILWU 10 & 34 Workers Stand Against Israeli Apartheid
In a historic labor community protest on June 20, 2010, more than eight hundred people joined picket lines in the Port of Oakland SSA terminals to call on ILWU Local 10 and ILWU Local 34 members not to cross the picket lines and work the Israeli Zim ship Shenzhen. The protest was organized against the attack by Israel on the aid flotilla going to Gaza and the ongoing Israeli blockade of Gaza. The union longshore workers refused to cross the picket line and the protesters as a result were successful in stopping the work on the SSA terminal for 24 hours halting the ships departure until the following day. This was the first direct labor action by workers in the United States in solidarity with Palestinian workers and people. It also shows the link and continuity of this action with the 1984 apartheid picket of a ship from South Africa. Zim Line was actively engaged in supporting the apartheid regime in South Africa. ILWU workers and others make comparison of these pickets and also why they consider Israel an apartheid regime. The port boycott picket was also endorsed by the Oakland Education Association OEA and the San Francisco and Alameda Central Labor Councils. Many bay area trade unionists who joined the picket line speak out on this issue and why they have taken a stand.
