CNN) -- Occupy protesters succeeded in shutting down overnight operations at California's port of Oakland on Monday night after a day of similar protests in several other U.S. cities.
The protests in Oakland have "disrupted workers trying to get to work and impaired the port's ability to operate," port spokesman Issac Kos-Read told CNN. Craig Merrilees, a spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, said the port has told its members not to report for work for the overnight shift because of the mass of protesters at the port.
Earlier Monday, the port authority said in a statement there were "some delays of truck traffic" but said the port remained operational.
On a normal night, several hundred people would be working the graveyard shift, Kos-Read said. Day shifts involve several thousand, he said. He said the protests have cost workers their wages, cost the city and region some revenue and could cause shipping firms to divert vessels to other ports.
"What has this accomplished?" he asked. "This is disrupting the 99%"
Oakland has been a flashpoint of the Occupy movement since October, when police used tear gas to break up demonstrators who refused to leave downtown. One demonstrator, a Marine veteran of the war in Iraq, suffered a skull fracture after being hit with a police projectile, according to a veteran's group; police said they acted after the crowd threw paint and other objects at officers.
The ILWU -- which represents 15,000 dockworkers -- has distanced itself from the protest movement. The union "shares the Occupy movement's concerns about the future of the middle class and corporate abuses," ILWU President Robert McEllrath wrote to locals last week -- but he urged the movement to stay out of its dispute with the port of Longview, Washington, and warned against "outside groups attempting to co-opt our struggle in order to advance a broader agenda."
Monday's demonstrations also took place in Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston and Portland, Oregon. Organizers said the goal was to shut down ports in an effort to "disrupt the economic machine that benefits the wealthiest individuals and corporations." end quote from:http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/12/us/occupy-ports/?hpt=ibu_c2
I am not an Occupy demonstrator nor have I been nor do I intend to be one. However, if I were college age between the ages or 18 and 25 and I couldn't find a job I would seriously think about it if I were coming up today in this world. I also wrote another article that explains what I think is really going on here.
The Planetary War for Jobs
No comments:
Post a Comment