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International Longshoreman’s and Warehouseman’s Union to shut down West Coast ports on May 1st, international labor day – Internationalist.org

More from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: “On Thursday, May Day, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union will declare an eight-hour strike to protest the war in Iraq. Since the ILWU controls every port along the U.S. Pacific Coast, including Seattle and Tacoma, this strike demonstrates the collective power of workers willing to use it… The ILWU is highly democratic. A caucus of more than 100 longshore workers representing every union local establishes policies for the Longshore Division. It was this caucus that voted to declare the May Day strike.  Dockworkers, including those in the ILWU, have a proud tradition of political action. For example, in the 1980s the ILWU respected the strike of British dockworkers by refusing to unload a ship worked by scab labor. Just last week, union longshoremen in South Africa refused to unload a Chinese vessel carrying military supplies destined for autocratic Zimbabwe — a tremendous example of solidarity….Other American workers who want to support our troops by bringing them home can make their voices heard by joining with the brave men and women of the ILWU and taking the day off.” 

More from the San Francisco Bay Guardian; Solidarity from the Vermont AFL-CIO

Brief origins on the history of International Labor Day, which started in the US in the 1880’s, in a show of worldwide solidarity after the Haymarket Square Massacre – Int’l Workers of the World

More on the Haymarket Square Massacre from the Chicago Historical Society and Anarchist Archives