Workers to Close Ports For a Day

The ILWU resolution to close ports in California, Oregon, and Washington would affect the day shift on May 1st. The move is intended to “protest the war by calling for the immediate safe return of US troops from Iraq,” according to the union.

Additional concerns raised by the union included the cost of the war. The war has threatened funding for domestic needs, including education and healthcare, said the union statement. It cited Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard Economist Linda J. Bilmes' recent estimate that the cost of the war in Iraq to American taxpayers in excess of $3 trillion.

The ILWU notified other unions of its intended action in hopes they would stage similar events.