May Day march begins on the Seattle waterfront

Dozens of people gathered on the Seattle waterfront in the noon hour today for an anti-war rally and march.

Many of the people who carried signs were members of the longshore union who were taking off on May Day.

The crowd carries signs saying "No Iraq War" and "Stop the war on immigrants and Iraq."

The group was marching to Pier 66 where another anti-war group was heading from Seattle Central Community College.

Port of Seattle spokeswoman Charla Skaggs and Port of Tacoma spokesman Mike Wasem say longshoreman taking off on May Day is really an issue between the longshore union and the association that manages terminals on the West Coast, the Port Management Association.

Wasem says no work was expected today and May Day is considered a holiday by many workers.

A union spokeswoman in Portland, Jennifer Sargent of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, says more than 25,000 longshore workers at 29 West Coast ports are standing down to call for an end to the war in Iraq.