Activism

Longshore Workers Shut Down Port of Oakland, Rally to Save Port and Public Schools

Trent Willis, past president of Local 10, called on union members to organize and fight. “We know what we stand for: we stand for equality, we stand against privatization, we stand against gentrification,” he said. “Every generation has had their battle, and this is ours. When it’s time to throw down, we have to stand up.”

Published

4 years ago

February 22, 2022

Oakland Post

Teachers and members of school communities joined the ILWU Local 10 longshore workers who shut down the Port of Oakland and rallied Thursday at noon at Oakland City Hall to halt the takeover of public land at the Port land and the closure of schools to benefit billionaire charter school and real estate developers. Shown (L to R) are Marlo Johnson, ILWU Local 10; Parker Elementary School educators Denise Huffstutler and Hillary Chen, who were among a group from Parker that held a sick-out Thursday to oppose the closing of their school in June; Trent Willis, past president of ILWU Local 10; and Kira Allen, who spoke for hunger strikers at Westlake Middle School. Photo by Ken Epstein

By Ken Epstein

Longshore workers, members of ILWU Local 10, shut down the Port of Oakland Thursday, rallying at Oakland City Hall at noon to show their determination to halt the giveaway of public land to billionaire John Fisher’s real estate project at the Port and to show solidarity with the fight of Oakland teachers and communities to save their schools from being closed and given away to privatizers.

The name of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, when mentioned, was greeted by boos. Schaaf, who is viewed as an agent of privatizers like John Fisher, also has spoken publicly in favor of closing as many as half of Oakland’s public schools.

Melvin Mackay, ILWU Local 10 executive board member, emphasized that building of million-dollar condominiums is incompatible with the functioning of a 24/7 working port.

“If they ever put residential on maritime land, we’re done,” he said.

Said ILWU Local 10 member Linda Adams, “This is not about a ballpark. This is about prime real estate for billionaires.”

Nick Palmquest, who is a teacher at MetWest, said the struggle to save the schools and the Port are connected. “We must stop the privatization of our Port, and we must stop the privatization of our schools,” he said.

A group of teachers and others from Parker Elementary School, which is one of the schools scheduled to be closed in June, held a sick-out and joined the City Hall rally.