May Day protests halt cargo traffic at Seattle, Tacoma ports

West Coast cargo traffic, including that at ports of Seattle and Tacoma, came to a halt Thursday as port workers staged daylong anti-war protests to commemorate May Day, terminal operators said.

Thousands of dockworkers did not show up for the morning shift, leaving ships and truck drivers idle at ports from Long Beach, Calif., to Seattle, Pacific Maritime Association spokesman Steve Getzug said.

Workers stayed off the job for about 10 hours before returning for evening shifts.

"There's no work happening," Getzug said Thursday afternoon, "so that means there's no cargo being unloaded and certainly being loaded either."

In Seattle, dozens of people gathered on the waterfront during the noon hour for an anti-war rally and march.

Many who carried signs saying "No Iraq War" and "Stop the war on immigrants and Iraq" were members of the longshore union who were taking May Day off.

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 longshoremen staying off the job on May Day is an issue between the longshore union and the association that manages terminals on the West Coast, the Port Management Association.

Wasem said no daytime work was expected Thursday, and May Day is considered a holiday by many workers.

The West Coast ports are the nation's principal gateway for cargo-container traffic from the Far East. In a typical day shift, about 10,000 cargo containers are loaded and unloaded from ships coastwide, Getzug said.

Longshore workers do everything from operating cranes at port marine terminals to clerical work like coordinating truck cargo deliveries.

A total of about 25,000 of them work at 29 ports in California, Oregon and Washington. About 6,000 were working the day shift last Thursday, handling cargo from 30 ships coastwide, Getzug said.

J. Craig Shearman, a spokesman for the National Retail Federation, said shippers and exporters expected no significant, long-term disruptions from the walkout.

"This is something that happens every year," Shearman said. "Shippers and exporters know about it and plan around it, and we don't expect to see any significant disruptions from it."

Shearman said many longshore workers took the day off last year to participate in immigration rallies.