The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) sponsored a May Day rally in which it protested the plan by the Oakland A’s to build its new baseball stadium at the Port of Oakland’s Howard Terminal facility.
The Port of Oakland was shut down as part of the ILWU’s May Day protest.
Several hundred people gathered in front of Howard Terminal to hear ILWU Local 10 President Melvin Mackay denounce the stadium plan as an attempt to gentrify the docks and take away union jobs: “If they build any kind of hotels or any kind of condominiums you can rest assured your job on the waterfront is gone.”
Mackay was followed by Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, and a rising star in the labor movement, who some believe could be the next head of the AFL-CIO.
In a January 24th video, Nelson denounced the vilification of federal workers which she claimed was the motive behind the Trump administration’s decision to shut down the federal government.
Nelson said: “Many of these people are our veterans…Many of these people are fighting for our country right now, and we are not paying them.” The video was widely shared on social media and was followed by a walk-out by some air traffic controllers at U.S. airports. The next day the Trump Administration ended the federal government shutdown.
At the Oakland rally, Nelson told the pro-union crowd: “We are here to save this Port and send a message to the corporate elite. You do not control Oakland.”
