Occupy the EGT

WHEREAS, Longshore workers’ jurisdiction is under an unprecedented attack; and,

WHEREAS, West Coast dockworkers fought and died to establish that jurisdiction; and,

WHEREAS, Longshore workers have always been at the forefront in the struggle for social justice and better working conditions for all; and, 

WHEREAS, Longshore workers have inspired working people across North America and around the world; and,

WHEREAS, EGT is engaged in a race-to-the-bottom that works to destroy a long history of good family wage jobs throughout the region and around the world; and,

WHEREAS, it is also known that Bunge, Ltd., a multinational conglomerate and majority shareholder of EGT, with direct ties to Wall Street, has used its power in the grain trade to manipulate global grain prices, to evade taxes in Argentina, to terrorize the people of the Amazon through deforestation, to force Brazilian workers into near slave conditions while their indigenous populations are starved out over soybean pricing, and to violate the Clean Air Act, among other offenses; and,

WHEREAS, Occupies Longview, Portland, and Oakland recognize the blatant union-busting tactics of EGT and its parent company Bunge, as well as its attack on the Longshore workers, who are powerful allies for workers around the world; and,

WHEREAS, according to Longshore workers the empty grain ship will be escorted by armed U.S. Coast Guard vessels and helicopters to the Port of Longview, Washington on the Columbia River; and,

WHEREAS, this is the first known use of the U.S. military to intervene in a labor dispute on the side of management in 40 years; and,

WHEREAS, the U.S. Armed Forces, which have been oppressing other nations for the interests of the 1%, is now being used against the same workers whose tax money sponsors those forces;  therefore be it

RESOLVED, that Occupies Longview, Portland, and Oakland call on EGT to immediately cease its attacks on our communities, our food supply and the jurisdiction of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union; and be it further

RESOLVED, that Occupies Longview, Portland, and Oakland call on all Occupy General Assemblies, the working class, and the “99%” everywhere to come to the aid of Longshore workers, and to support them in any way possible in their fight against the EGT and Bunge; and be it further

RESOLVED, that Occupies Longview, Portland, and Oakland request that anyone willing to participate in a community blockade of the first EGT grain ship in Longview, Washington, do so when alerted that the ship will arrive; and be it further

RESOLVED, that all General Assemblies, any group of their members, as well as workers around the world who cannot physically join the community blockade in Longview, Washington, mobilize in solidarity through direct action in their communities—especially those located in the Midwest, the Delta, Occupies along the Mississippi River, and all other international locations where Bunge’s growth and operations are located, and be it further

RESOLVED, that General Assemblies across the country and the mobilized 99% across the globe condem any state or private-sponsored efforts to arrest direct action against EGT, or workers participating in those actions; and be it further

RESOLVED, that General Assemblies challenge any charges brought against workers or comrades struggling for economic, social, and envrionmental justice; and finally be it

RESOLVED, that Occupies Longview, Portland, and Oakland forward this resolution to all Occupy General Assemblies, the working people of the 99% in their communities, and comrades in the Occupy Movement around the world. 

In solidarity,

Occupy Longview, Occupy Portland, and Occupy Oakland

Originally posted at kboo.fm, a community radio station in the Northwest.

 

program date: 

 Fri, 01/13/2012

A call to action was issued by the Cowlitz-Whakiakum Labor Council for mass mobilization to protest the first arrival of the EGT ship to be loaded at the Port of Longview. EGT is a transnational corporation who is in violation of their leasing agreement to employ local unionized workers. 

The ship is expected to arrive late January to early February.

Paul Nipper with Occupy Longview has more about the group's upcoming court action.

• Length: 3:55 minutes (3.59 MB)
• Format: MP3 Mono 44kHz 128Kbps (CBR)

 

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen 

A Division of the Rail Conference — International Brotherhood of Teamsters 

October 14, 2011 

On behalf of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen - Washington State Legislative Board and our 700 members across Washington State in nine (9) Local Divisions, I offer our full support in ILWU 21’s fight to maintain jurisdiction of the EGT grain facility in Longview, Washington.  As recent court decisions have shown, EGT was “acutely aware” of ILWU 21’s jurisdiction and long established work relationship at the Port of Longview.  EGT, Bunge, and other corporate conglomerates are attempting to undermine the Northwest grain industry and the 80 year history of fair wages and benefits ILWU has fought vigorously to secure. 

As General President Hoffa has pointed out, EGT is yet another glaring example of the “War on Workers” corporations have waged against the working class in America.  Equally outrageous, is the use of taxpayer dollars to fund what amounts to an EGT “corporate militia” under the guise of Homeland Security.  Heavy handed police tactics and surveillance of ILWU workers should not be tolerated by our elected officials.  Be assured we stand in solidarity with our ILWU brothers and sisters in their fight to maintain grain jobs with fair wages and benefits at the Port of Longview.  Please keep me abreast of your efforts and any help we can provide to ensure ILWU prevails in their battle against EGT.  

In Solidarity,  

Mike Elliott, Chairman 

Washington State Legislative Board  

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen 

A Division of the Teamsters Rail Conference   

This article was originally published at Corporate Criminals Exposed.

Part 1 of 5: Fat Like Us: Europe’s Diet Becoming Americanized Thanks to Soy Feed Imported by Bunge Et Al

“‘International trade rules have created a soybean industrial complex that is fattening both livestock and humans in Europe, just like it has in America,’ says Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter.”

“Trade rules have made soy a cheaper alternative to domestic feed, helping transform pig and poultry holdings in Europe into factory farms like their U.S. counterparts. With this shift to cheaper feed comes more processed, industrialized, fast food. In 2009, McDonald’s actually earned more revenue from Europe (41 percent) than the United States (35 percent.) Now, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil made largely from soybeans is a key shortening in processed desserts and frozen foods as well, adding even more soy to European diets… In the past several decades, these changes have helped broaden waistlines. The obesity rate in the U.K. more than tripled between 1980 and 2007, and France’s nearly doubled between 1990 and 2006. Almost half of Germany’s population was obese or overweight in 2005.”

“Four international firms dominate the global oilseed trade: U.S-based Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Bunge [pronounced BUN-ge with a soft e], Cargill, and the French company Louis Dreyfus. These firms were four of the top six exporters of soybeans from Argentina in 2009… Bunge operates 56 oilseed-processing plants worldwide, processing more than 13,000 metric tonnes (28.7 million pounds) each day in Argentina alone.”

http://tinyurl.com/3qpt75g

Part 2 of 5: ADM, Bunge, Cargill: the ABCs of Rainforest Destruction

“Today, the Rainforest Action Network turned up the heat on US Agribusiness giants ADM, Bunge, and Cargill. Early this morning, when employees arrived at the Chicago Board of Trade, they were met with a massive banner, reading: ‘ADM, Bunge, Cargill: the ABCs of Rainforest Destruction.’ We’re stepping it up and we want these companies to know how serious we are. Yesterday Chicagoans opened the Tribune to find our full page ad, calling out ADM, Bunge, and Cargill for profiting from false solutions to our climate crisis. By promoting industrially produced soy and palm oil as biofuel, these companies are diverting our resources and attention away from truly renewable energy. Our newly-launched Rainforest Agribusiness Campaign is letting these companies know that destroying the world’s rainforests for profit won’t fly…”

http://tinyurl.com/3xaho6p

Part 3 of 5: The Space Between Bunge’s Rhetoric and Bunge’s Actions

“They talk about feeding the world and had a whole packet enumerating their values of integrity, citizenship and environmental stewardship. Mr. Weisser spoke at length about working with local growers in South America and investing in social projects. I’m all for a business culture that values “integrity and citizenship”. The problem lies in the space between Bunge’s rhetoric and Bunge’s actions.

* While Bunge insists it is working to curb greenhouse gas emissions; it has continued to expand its operations in Brazil, which has become the fourth largest greenhouse gas polluter in the world with deforestation accounting for three quarters of its emissions. Soy expansion by companies like Bunge is the leading cause of deforestation.

* While Bunge talks about funding social programs in communities, it is still responsible for the human rights disaster of displacing Indigenous peoples throughout its South American operations

* While Bunge stresses a commitment to farmers and its employees, the expansion of soy forces small farming communities off their lands, providing just one job for every 11 subsistence farmer it displaces.”

http://tinyurl.com/o4gb36

Part 4 of 5: Bunge Funds Brazilian Communist Front Tied To Killing Forests and Environmentalists

“On May 24th, environmentalist Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife, Maria [image link below], were gunned down near Maraba, Para, where the couple worked in a sustainable extractive reserve. Only three days later another prominent activist was killed. The leader of the Amazon Peasants Association, Adelino Ramos, was murdered in front of his family in Vista Alegre do Abuna, Rondonia. Both Ramos and da Silva were vocal opponents of deforestation in the Amazon. The deaths of these activists are being compared to the murder of American nun Dorothy Stang in 2005 and rubber trapper Chico Mendes in 1988, considered martyrs by many.”

“Some have linked the high-profile killings in part to proposed revisions to Brazil’s Forest Code, the country’s primary law addressing deforestation. The revisions have incited tension between those in favor of allowing further clearing in the Amazon and environmentalists who support the original code, drafted in 1965. The revisions, now passed by Brazil’s lower house, loosen restrictions on clearing forests along riverbanks and on hilltops. In addition, under the original law, landholders were required to maintain 80 percent of their lands in forest, and technically could be required to reforest cleared property, however the revised Forest Code would require only 50 percent of land to be preserved, and reforesting will not be required.”

“Aldo Rebelo, the head of Brazil’s Communist Party, has led the charge against the Forest Code. He argues that existing forest requirements keep small farmers in poverty, however critics say Rebaldo’s claims to represent the rural poor are misleading. Rebelo’s coalition, the “ruralists”, is comprised of industrial agribusiness interests, including the National Agriculture Confederation (CAN). According to Brazil’s Center of Environmental Studies (CEA), Rebelo received R 70,000 ($44,200) from Bunge Fertilizers, an immense multinational agricultural conglomerate based in New York and one of the principal agribusiness firms in Brazil.”

http://tinyurl.com/3wxs6gq

Part 5 of 5: Bunge North America Spends $3,725,000 Lobbying, Lands 73 Federal Contracts

http://tinyurl.com/3enhlhg

Related Images:

http://www.pulsamerica.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/ze-claudio-and-m...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rainforestactionnetwork/1532799171

Related Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sulmw-Tz_cc

The following is a resolution from International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council #5

Whereas, EGT Development, a joint venture of multinational corporations Bunge, Itochu and STX Pan Ocean, agreed to hire union Longshoremen when accepting millions in taxpayer funds to build a massive grain exporting terminal at the Port of Longview and is now trying to avoid following its contract with regards to labor, and

Whereas, Longshoremen and their supporters are being wrongfully arrested by the hundreds in their defense of this lifetime jurisdiction from EGT Development’s attacks, and have gained public support in the process, and

Whereas, EGT Development found said willingness to undermine ILWU Longshore standards among the leadership of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 701, and

Whereas, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 701 and the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters are ideological partners in the NCA II, and

Whereas, the members of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council #5, an AFL-CIO affiliate, is under constant threat of craft raiding and undermining by the non AFL-CIO affiliate of the NCA II, and

Whereas, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council #5, has adopted and accepts the Constitution of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations and believes that the AFL-ClO’s primary duty is to address issues of jurisdiction, and

Whereas the AFL-CIO has been slow to act to address issues of jurisdiction,

Be it resolved that the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council #5 condemns, in the strongest way possible, the strike breaking and predatory actions of the current leadership of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 701,

Be it further resolved that International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council #5 and its affiliated Local Unions instruct their delegates to Central Labor Councils and State Federations to let it be known that the issue of raiding and strike breaking needs to be addressed in the strongest way possible,

Be it further resolved that each and every member of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council #5 be instructed to lend assistance and Support of ILWU Local 21 fight whenever possible or called upon.

The following is a resolution from the San Francisco Labor Council, adopted by unanimous vote on January 9, 2012:

Whereas, EGT, a joint venture led by multinational grain giant Bunge, agreed to hire union Longshoremen when accepting millions in taxpayer funds to build a huge new grain exporting terminal at the Port of Longview WA, but once the terminal was built has tried to void its contract and refused to hire ILWU labor. With the use of brutal police and courts and 220 arrests in the 225 member ILWU Local 21, EGT has managed to get enough scab grain across picket lines into the new terminal that EGT appears poised to load a ship soon in violation of their agreement with the port;  and

Whereas, a solidarity caravan of thousands of union members and community activists – endorsed by ILWU Locals 10 and 21, the S.F. and Cowlitz County (Longview) labor councils and many others – is being organized to support our brothers and sisters in Longview, for an emergency mass protest when requested to do so, to confront union-busting by Wall Street on the Waterfront; and

Whereas, according to Longshore & Shipping News, within a month, the empty grain ship will be escorted by armed U.S. Coast Guard vessels and helicopters, from the mouth of the Columbia River to the EGT facility. The Coast Guard is an integral part of the US Armed Forces, operating under the Department of Homeland Security (except when engaged in combat operations abroad, as it did in Iraq, when it operates under the Navy); and

Whereas, this is the first known use of the US military to intervene in a labor dispute on the side of management in 40 years – not since the Great 1970 Postal Strike when President Nixon called out the Army and National Guard in an (unsuccessful) attempt to break the strike. The use of the Armed Forces against labor unions is something you expect to see in a police state. This is part of a disturbing trend where the US military, acting as enforcers for the 1%,  is poised to be used against our own people, as exemplified by the new law allowing the military to imprison US citizens indefinitely without trial; and

Whereas, now the US military, which has been oppressing, bombing and threatening other nations [a military that’s paid for with the workers’ taxes] is now being used against us, against American working people and our unions. To quote ILWU international President McEllrath: “ILWU’s labor dispute with EGT is symbolic of what is wrong in the United States today. Corporations, no matter how harmful the conduct to society, enjoy full state and federal protection while workers and the middle class get treated as criminals for trying to protect their jobs and communities.”

Therefore be it Resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council condemn in the strongest terms the announced use of US Armed Forces (Coast Guard) to provide an armed sea and air escort for the empty grain ship, which is due to call at the new EGT grain terminal, Port of Longview, Washington, to load scab grain for export to Asia. We condemn this use of the military as part of a union-busting campaign to lower the cost of labor on the waterfront and destroy the union;

And be it further Resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council join with allies in other cities on the West Coast to participate in any press conferences and demonstrations that are organized to denounce this use of the military to intervene in a labor dispute on the side of Wall Street on the Waterfront;

And be it finally Resolved, that the Council circulate this resolution to affiliated unions, Bay Area labor councils, the California Labor Federation, as well as labor bodies in Oregon and Washington, for concurrence and action, and urge labor leaders including Richard Trumka and Mary Kay Henry to take a strong stand against this brazen assault on our labor rights and civil liberties.

Originally posted at Labor for Palestine:

Labor for Palestine expresses its strongest solidarity with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and its workers in Longview, Washington. ILWU Local 21 in Longview is under attack by a major corporation, EGT, which is running a grain terminal at the port without an ILWU contract, violating the port agreement with the ILWU, which has governed the port’s operations for over 75 years.

The ILWU’s response to this union-busting attempt has been militant and strong, and the center of solidarity from the ongoing Occupy/Decolonize movements. If the ILWU’s jurisdiction is broken at the Port of Longview, union rights are under threat at container ports up and down the West Coast.

The ILWU struggle in Longview has drawn the attention and solidarity of popular movements across the U.S. and internationally as a central struggle for workers’ rights, and ILWU Local 10 of the Port of Oakland has been at the center of that organizing.

Occupy Oakland, working in solidarity with the ILWU, mobilized 30,000 people on November 2, 2011 to shut down the Port of Oakland in explicit solidarity with the struggle of Longview workers and the longshore workers of Oakland, and ports up and down the West Coast were shut down or protested on December 12, 2011 by Occupy movements in Seattle, Portland, Oakland and elsewhere, again in response to the ILWU battle in Longview.

ILWU Local 10 has itself come under attack by the Pacific Maritime Association, pursued in court because of its strong action against the destruction of public workers’ rights to organize in Wisconsin, shutting down the ports of San Francisco and Oakland for 24 hours on April 4, 2011. Despite threats to itself, ILWU Local 10 has once again stood in the front lines with ILWU Local 21 and in defense of the rights of all workers.The workers of Longview have faced massive repression; ILWU Local 21 has only 225 members, but 220 arrests for participating in protests at the port to defend their union’s jurisdiction. They have brought over 1,000 people to the Port of Longview in protest, and inspired the Occupy protest actions at the ports up and down the West Coast.

Workers on the West Coast, including ILWU Locals 10 and 21 and the San Francisco and Cowlitz-Wahkiakum County Labor Councils, have announced plans for a caravan to Longview to join the workers in protest when called to action (http://www.transportworkers.org/node/2101).

ILWU Local 10′s defense of their sisters and brothers in the Port of Longview reflects a long history of domestic and international solidarity.

West Coast dock-workers refused to handle cargo for Nazi Germany (1934) and fascist Italy (1935); refused shipping for apartheid South Africa in the San Francisco Bay Area (1984); and refused to load bombs for the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile (1978). ILWU workers at all twenty-nine West Coast ports held a May Day strike against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2008.

On June 20, 2010, they respected a community picket by refusing to load an Israeli ZIM ship docked at the Port of Oakland. The picket came at the behest of calls from the Palestinian labor movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions and followed in the footsteps of multiple resolutions passed by ILWU Local 10 in support of Palestinian human and workers’ rights.

In the same spirit of solidarity, Labor for Palestine supports the call for the Longview Caravan. Just as the workers of the ILWU have stood in solidarity with Palestine, we stand with the workers of the ILWU in Longview, Oakland, and everywhere in their struggle to defend workers’ power and stop union-busting.

Flier from ILWU Local 21

The following is from a resolution that was just passed by the Labor Council in the Longview area: 

"We are imploring all able working class people willing to take time out of his or her own lives, to come to Longview, Washington for a historic protest.

 .... The class struggle never really goes away. Right now the rich and the ruling class are attempting to deal a blow that labor might never recover from….

…. If you believe in a better future for the 99% of us that work for a living, do what you can to support ILWU Local 21." 

The following is the accompanied Call to Action:

It is estimated, sometime in late January or early February the [scab] EGT facility at the port of Longview will receive its first grain ship to be loaded at its berth. The name and timing of this ship will undoubtedly be kept secret until the last possible moment. It is likely there will be a few days to as little as 24 hours notice of when the ship will dock. Notification will be given via the Internet and any other relevant means of networking throughout the country. 

We are imploring all able working class people willing to take time out of his or her own lives, to come to Longview, Washington for a historic protest. 

This is the time for workers everywhere to take a stand. Unions and the working class standard of living that have benefited from collective bargaining for so long are in danger of being extracted completely. You can see this systematically taking place over the last 30 years or longer, and especially in recent times. Unions have lost ground over this period of time due to unjust anti-labor laws, corporate influence on the government, and complacency on the part of organized labor among other reasons. 

We recognize the danger of, and view the government attack on collective bargaining of public employees as a warning shot to labor as a whole. Wisconsin was ground zero and the spark that awoke the sleeping giant that is labor. Workers are beginning to remember there is indeed strength in numbers, regardless of how many unjust laws are made to divide us. 

We have not been pacified long enough, as to give up our constitutional rights or to give up all the gains our forefathers fought and died to achieve over the last hundred years. People inherently ask WHY? Why should I, or others come to the aid of the ILWU? Why should I care, and what does it matter if this ship gets loaded and they lose this struggle? 

The ILWU has a proud history of being arguably the strongest labor union in the world for almost 80 years. The secret of this success lies in the bottom up, rank and file democratic structure. This empowers and involves every member. And the intelligence and foresight of the leaders who knew without unity on the entire west coast and unity with the working class, there was no strength. 

EGT is attempting to break the ILWU. EGT is operating on public port property where the ILWU have worked for decades. They are in violation of their lease agreement, which states that the ILWU is to be the workforce on port property. Longshoremen have done work in port grain elevators before the ILWU was formed [in the 1930s]. If EGT succeeds, they will have essentially broken the ILWU. 

First, they will set a precedent that work on public port docks is no longer automatically Longshore Jurisdiction. Then within less than a year, when the northwest grain handlers agreement is set to be negotiated, all the other grain elevators will seek to either go non-ILWU or will seek to match the eroded standard EGT creates. Shortly thereafter in 2014, the ILWU will negotiate its master contract with the Pacific Maritime Association. If they lose, you can bet the PMA will take notice and hit hard. 

Most importantly to note is that grain accounts for 30% of the ILWU health and welfare package. If you lose a third of your bargaining power and your traditional jurisdiction on port property, what are you left with? Either no ILWU, or a union that would resemble nothing like what it once was. There would be little or no collective power up and down the west coast, and no way to fight for social justice or defend the working class, just as the ILWU has done for so long, in its entrenched and strategic position at the gates of international commerce. 

Longshoremen have traditionally been a rough and tough bunch, but they always make sure to educate their members on the importance of history, unity and the power of collective bargaining. People nowadays forget or have not been taught their own history, they forget what it means to cross a picket line, and become a scab the rest of their life. For 30 years or more we have been sliding downhill, while some would argue unions have outlived their time. The reality is unions are the last defense when the imperfect system of checks and balances within our government fails to serve the interests of the workers. 

The class struggle never really goes away. Right now the rich and the ruling class are attempting to deal a blow that labor might never recover from. The ILWU has always been the vanguard of labor everywhere. Today, the ILWU’s value of “An Injury to One, Is an Injury to All” couldn’t be any more pertinent for all organizations. So please, if you believe in a better future for the 99% of us that work for a living, do what you can to support ILWU Local 21. 

“The most important word in the language of the working class is solidarity.”– Harry Bridges

In Solidarity,

Kyle Mackey, Secretary/Treasurer Cowlitz-Wahkiakum Counties Central Labor Council, and ILWU Local 21 member

In the small city of Longview in Washington state, International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 21 is locked in a battle to force multinational conglomerate EGT Development to use ILWU labor at a new $200 million grain terminal--the first new terminal built on the West Coast in the last 25 years.

When picketing by hundreds of unionists and their supporters disrupted test run operations at the terminal, the company countered with harassment and state repression--Local 21 has been fined over $300,000, and at least 75 of its 200 members face some form of citation, fine or arrest. However, in a setback for EGT, the two cases that have gone to court so far have resulted in acquittals for Local 21 members.

Sometime between the beginning of January and early February, EGT plans on unloading its first barge grain shipment using scab labor--and then loading its first scab ship with grain destined for Asia. Local 21 President Dan Coffman summarized the stakes in this modern-day labor war by saying, "We view this as an attempt by corporations to try to break the strength of the ILWU."

In December, Occupy Longview put out a call "to all Occupies, from New York City down to Florida, all the way through to the West Coast, to join us in solidarity in Longview" in protest against the scab barge and ship when they arrive at the Port of Longview. Paul Nipper, a spokesperson for Occupy Longview, talked to Darrin Hoop about the importance of the call for people to caravan to Longview--and why Local 21's struggle is crucial not only for the Longview community, but for people all over the U.S.

This aricle was originally published at SocialistWorker.org

WHY DID Occupy Longview (OLV) vote to call for a caravan to Longview to support ILWU Local 21 in its struggle against EGT?

THE GROUP voted to move forward with this action because we view Longview as ground zero in the labor movement right now. The ILWU is considered to be one of the most powerful unions in the country and world as well. If "the corporations" are successful in busting up a union as strong as the ILWU, who's next? The answer is obvious--anyone who gets in their way.

WHY IS this struggle one the Occupy movement nationally should support?

THE OCCUPY movement is all about supporting the middle class and trying to level the playing field between corporate power and people. Union workers are part of the 99 percent. It is a verifiable fact that when unions are strong, the middle class is strong. It's no coincidence that with the decline of union membership, the rest of the middle class has suffered.

The members of OLV are all in agreement that unions have the final grip on our voices in the workplace, and even in our unbalanced political system. We also agree that it is inevitable that if the remaining unions in this country are overpowered and busted up, our voice will no longer be heard in both arenas.

WHAT ROLE do you see for both union and non-union workers in building support for Local 21?

IN MY opinion, the two are inseparable. The ILWU and all other unions were born from the struggles of the original labor movements in the late 1820s. From the early victories of a simple 10-hour workday, to the advances in on-the-job safety improvements and additional employee benefits that workers gained, the very fabrics of both groups are interwoven. Without one, the other is weaker or will not survive at all.

I am not a union member and never have been, but I depend on the strength of organized labor as a stabilizer for non-union workers in general. I see no reason to draw a distinction between the two groups. I firmly believe that it is the absolute duty of non-union 99 percenters to support the unionized labor force, and I would expect nothing less in reverse circumstances.

HOW HAS Occupy Longview supported with Local 21 up to this point?

THE PREVIOUS December 12 West Coast Port Shutdown action was in direct support of the ILWU. OLV as a group supports all unions and working-class people in general. As it states on the window of the ILWU hall, "An injury to one is an injury to all." We share that philosophy.

The biggest benefit that we, OLV, have received from the ILWU is education and representation in the organized labo community. We have had rank-and-file members attend various meetings to inform us of the EGT conflict--how it started, the stages it has gone through and the current state of affairs. ILWU members have helped OLV develop the relationship that we have with organized labor.

The ILWU has the ability to represent our intentions when dealing with other unions directly or through the labor council. They are our direct voice with these other groups and are instrumental in getting our message to them.

HOW IS Local 21 perceived in Longview outside the Occupy movement? Is there broad support for its struggle?

IN MY experience, the average working person views the ILWU with respect. I and others admire the union's determination and use of a wide array of tactics to fight the corporate power of EGT.

That being said, I also have to acknowledge the influence-peddling that EGT has engaged in. It has donated money to local and various "charitable" organizations. EGT has donated large sums of money to our fire and police departments. It is common knowledge that its purpose for participating in local gatherings, etc., is to improve its public image, and at the same time spread a negative public image of the ILWU.

EGT's influence is obvious in the unbalanced coverage of events via local media, such as the Longview Daily News. The members of OLV are trying to change that.

HOW CAN different Occupy movements help to support this call? What kind of specific things--medical, legal, food, money--will help make this a success?

WE CAN use all of the above. The most important is bodies. We need as many loud voices and warm bodies as humanly possible to gather--the bigger the crowd, the stronger the message will come across.

Our government fears nothing more than an informed, determined electorate. At the present, our voices are smothered in corporate cash. I would love to match every corporate dollar of influence with 10 pissed-off 99 percenters. We absolutely need money, no question. Medical teams are imperative, legal observers are equally important.

We need to spread the word to all of our families, friends and co-workers, through any means necessary. Make calls, send emails, text messages, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, write letters to the local news papers, go to local union halls--just reach out to everyone. This action could very well be the turning point in the labor movement as a whole. We can't fail!

WHAT WOULD a victory for Local 21 mean to the people of Longview?

MY VIEW of an ILWU victory is that the people of Longview come together to conquer corporate corruption.

From the beginning, the people of Longview were lied to and deceived. EGT made promises to the community of being a "good corporate citizen," and what we got in return were lies, the buying of political influence, jobs stolen from our neighbors and our tax dollars unnecessarily distributed to the very company that was behind the corruption.

I honestly believe this could be the end or the new beginning of a revived labor movement locally and across the country. We strongly feel that if EGT successfully loads this first incoming ship with grain, and it leaves the port without the ILWU workers on those docks, EGT can claim victory. The ILWU and the rest of the working-class 99 percenters will have been defeated by another transnational corporate giant.

We simply cannot accept that outcome. If we are successful in working together, and the ILWU emerges victorious, this can be seen as a new partnership.