Hundreds of International Longshore and Warehouse Union members stormed a Washington grain facility and took six security guards hostage while dumping grain and damaging railroad cars.
Yesterday, police detained and released International Longshore and Warehouse Union president Bob McEllrath for leading a protest at a grain export facility. The International Trade Union Federation condemned the detention:
ITF president Paddy Crumlin said: “[The grain terminal owners] are playing with fire, and they know it. [emphasis added] They need to take a big step back and think about what they are trying to force through, then see sense and talk to the ILWU about how to resolve this issue before it escalates even further.”
Cockcroft and Crumlin don’t feel so strongly about the horrors of detention when union workers captured security guards. They issued the above condemnation today, but the post makes no mention of the “wildcat” protest that took place early this morning. Apparently, to overpower security guards is “acceptable in the modern world,” if the aggressors represent union interests.
The highlighted portion of the ITF president’s comment recalls the response of then-head of the United Mine Workers Richard Trumka’s – Trumka is now president of the AFL-CIO – response to the murder of a non-union worker, Eddie York, UMW strikers:
When you think of it like that, this ILWU protest isn’t a surprise. It’s not even that big a deal. Who was detained longer, though, the security guards or the ILWU president?
