By Louis Sahagun and Ronald D. White, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

Their union says the action is to protest the war in Iraq, but port operators and shippers say it's an attempt to influence their contract.

Thousands of dockworkers at 29 West Coast ports took the day off Thursday, effectively shutting down operations at the busy complexes in what the union called a protest of the war in Iraq but employers worried might be a prelude to labor unrest.

The stand-down at ports including Los Angeles and Long Beach -- which combined handle 40% of the imported goods arriving in the United States each year -- idled ships and cranes, stranded thousands of big rigs and halted movement of about 10,000 containers during the eight-hour day shift.

Top 15 U.S. ports; West Coast port mapVideo: Picketing outside the Port of Oakland

Truck drivers and others who work at the Port of Oakland enjoy a relaxed moment on a normally busy road.

The show of force by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which ended as workers reported for the Thursday night shift at Southern California's twin ports, came two months before its contract expires with the Pacific Maritime Assn., a group of cargo carriers, terminal operators and stevedore companies.

The action also, as one labor historian put it, added significant support for May Day, which has become the preeminent working-class and protest event of the year. The union may have taken a calculated risk that allowing its members to participate was worth potentially aggravating employers in the middle of contract negotiations.

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Thousands of dockworkers at West Coast ports stayed off the job on Thursday in what their union said was a call for an end to the war in Iraq.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union said more than 25,000 members in 29 ports stayed off the job. The action came despite an order issued Wednesday by an arbitrator directing the union to tell its members to report for work as usual in response to a request from employers.

“Longshore workers are standing down on the job and standing up for America,” Bob McEllrath, the union’s president, said in a statement. “We’re supporting the troops and telling politicians in Washington that it’s time to end the war in Iraq.”

The scene at most West Coast ports was quiet, without any scuffles or confrontations. The cranes used to unload container ships stood idle and few trucks were lined up outside gates.

Guillermo Durell, 45, a truck driver, was at the Los Angeles-area port of Long Beach. “I got up at 6 a.m. to drop a load off,” he said. “When I got here the security guard said ‘Drop this, but that’s it. We’re all leaving.’ ”

Mr. McEllrath said the walkout was not ordered by the union’s leadership, but was the result of a “democratic decision” made by the rank and file in February to demonstrate on May 1, a traditional day for labor activism.

He said employers were notified in advance of the plan, but refused to accommodate the union’s request, instead seeking the arbitrator’s ruling.

The longshore union and other labor groups are planning marches and rallies in various cities along the West Coast, and authorities in some location warned that these activities could snarl traffic during the evening commute.

Rebecca Cathcart contributed reporting from Long Beach, Calif.

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Published: May 1st, 2008 12:00 PM | Updated: May 1st, 2008 10:09 AM
More than 25,000 West Coast International Longshore and Warehouse workers, including many hundred in Tacoma, are taking a day off work today in protest of the war in Iraq.

May Day is traditionally a day to celebrate labor and workers’ rights.

Scott Mason, spokesman for Tacoma’s ILWU Local 23, said this morning that usually 200 to 300 dockworkers would be coming to work today. But instead four ships are waiting to be unloaded in the Port of Tacoma and the truck gates are quiet.

ILWU International President Bob McEllrath said the workers are “standing down on the job and standing up for America.”

“We’re supporting the troops and telling politicians in Washington that it’s time to end the war in Iraq,” McEllrath said.

The protest doesn’t come as a surprise to longshore employers.

The union voted in February to stop work today in opposition of the war and made a request to the Pacific Maritime Association, the organization that represents terminal operators, stevedores and cargo carriers. The union’s contract allows for stop work meetings, with advance notice, though they usually occur during evening shifts. The PMA denied the request for a work stoppage during the day, typically the busiest hours for West Coast ports.

Some Tacoma longshore union members are headed to Seattle for anti-war events there. Others are staying in Tacoma for events scheduled for tonight.

The union plans to have workers available for the evening shift – which starts at 6 p.m. – to clear out the back log of cargo at the port.

“We will fill every job ordered,” Mason said. “Our job is to get ships in and out, but today we need to be getting those troops home.”

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LOS ANGELES -- West Coast cargo traffic came to a halt Thursday as port workers ditched work to commemorate May Day and call on the U.S. to end the war in Iraq.

Thousands of dockworkers at 29 ports in California, Oregon and Washington did not show up for the morning shift, leaving ships and truck drivers idle at ports from Long Beach to Seattle, Pacific Maritime Association spokesman Steve Getzug said.

The longshore workers were expected to return to work for the start of the evening shift, Getzug said.

"There's no work happening so that means there's no cargo being unloaded and certainly being loaded either," Getzug said.

May Day is an international day of labor solidarity.

Longshore workers at several ports participated in rallies with other anti-war protesters, while a number of workers chose to make their statement simply by taking the day off.

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­­Effect on Port of Portland is scant, while dockworkers in the midst of contract talks protest the war in Iraq

For about eight hours Thursday, up and down the West Coast, shipyards stood quiet, rail cars stopped and trucks scheduled for deliveries and pickups were turned back at the port gates.

Ten thousand dockworkers -- including about 200 in the Portland area -- took May Day off in defiance of labor contracts, bringing 29 ports from San Diego to Seattle to a standstill. Union leaders said they wanted to stage a protest against U.S. involvement in the Iraq war, but port operators speculated that a big reason for the walkout is to demonstrate union solidarity in the midst of labor negotiations.

Operations at the Port of Portland, Oregon's largest port, were minimally affected since no cargo ships arrived Thursday.

The show of force by the longshoremen's union comes despite an independent arbitrator's ruling Wednesday in California that the workers had a contractual obligation "to report to work as they normally do."

The 25,000-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, representing port operators and large shippers, are just two months away from the expiration of their labor contract.

Union leaders say the decision to ditch work Thursday wasn't meant to be a negotiating tactic, but a show of support for an end to the Iraq war on a day that's historically represented solidarity in organized labor.

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