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Dockworkers Strike Against Iraq War
West Coast ports idle for May Day in run-up to union contract talks
By Harry Kimball
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Posted May 1, 08 4:25 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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In an action their union says is a protest against the war in Iraq, dockworkers from Washington to Southern California have taken May Day off, crippling West Coast port traffic, the Los Angeles Times reports. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, whose contract is up in 2 months, was ordered by an arbitrator to show up today.
“We are supporting the troops and telling politicians in Washington that it’s time to end the war,” the union president said, as truck drivers found ports up and down the West Coast shuttered. A national retail group said businesses had planned for a slowdown around the worker’s holiday, and there would be no long-term effects, the AP reports.