The attack on the Pacific coast dockers union

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Strikers as Terrorists? Ridge Calls Longshoremen's Chief
By Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, Counterpunch, 27 June 2002. It won't be long before labor organizers are thrown into military prisons, held without warrant as “enemy combatants” for a strike would be bad for the national interest. What happened to Harry Bridges. The director of the Office of homeland Security tells ILWU not to strike.
White House Signals It Will Move to Forestall West Coast Port Strike
By Nancy Cleeland, Los Angeles Times, 5 August 2002. White House Signals It Will Move to Forestall West Coast Port Strike Labor: Officials have warned of steps the government could take to avert a job action. Administration officials said the economic importance of the ports and the level of animosity between the union and employers warranted federal intervention.
Bush threatens dockers's right to strike
By David Bacon, Labor-L, 7 August 2002. A labor war is looming on the west coast docks, which could become the defining union conflict of the Bush administration. But the traditional issues of union bargaining have been preempted this spring by a much more basic one: Do dockers have the right to strike at all?
Solidarity politics top AFL-CIO meet
By Fred Gaboury, People's Weekly World, 10 August 2002. In a strongly worded resolution, the AFL-CIO Executive Council condemned the Bush administration's threat to use federal troops to break any strike by members of the West Coast International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) against the shipping companies belonging to the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA).
The Charade Is Exposed
SolidarityInfoServices, 12 August 2002. Bush's “War On Terrorism” is now being aimed squarely at the ILWU. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge has called the ILWU leadership and told them they had better not go on strike. He also used a veiled threat that the army would be brought in to take over the docks and protect scabs if they did go on strike.
Bush threatens to use troops against dockworkers
By David Walsh and Ron Jorgenson, World Socialist Web Site, 30 August 2002. The far-reaching threats made by the Bush administration against the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) in the event of a West Coast dock strike or work slowdown reveal the essential class character of the government's “war on terrorism”. In the name of national security and its open-ended global war, the White House is threatening to use military force to destroy the basic rights of workers to organize and fight for decent wages and conditions.