Thread: Union members skirmish with protesters at rally

http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/3821861.html

Today is Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Originally published Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Updated Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Union members skirmish with protesters at rally
Police shield anti-immigration group at the Banning Park event. Otherwise, Labor Day is a time of solidarity.
By Donna Littlejohn
DAILY BREEZE

There was the usual fare of hot dogs and impassioned speeches Monday at the annual Labor Day march and rally that has become a settled tradition in Wilmington.

But there also was some unscripted political drama this year. A group of anti-illegal immigrant advocates holding signs and American flags was chased from Banning Park by throngs of labor union members shouting "Racists Go Home!"

No one was hurt in the brief, mostly verbal skirmish that drew a quick response by police officers who safely escorted the 12 demonstrators out of the park.

The Labor Day celebration opened with a morning solidarity march through Wilmington followed by picnics and speeches at Banning Park. An estimated crowd of about 4,000 surged into the park initially, but quickly began to dwindle with the afternoon's rising heat.

Most huddled under trees or found other forms of shade, drinking water and sodas.

The event was organized by the Teamsters, International Longshore and Warehouse Union and other unions along with the National Alliance for Immigrants' Rights to call for a moratorium on deportations and amnesty for illegal aliens.

The day went pretty much as planned until about 12 people affiliated with the Minute Men and other anti-illegal immigrant causes began walking to the top of a grassy mound next to the Banning Residence Museum inside the park.

Carrying signs and American flags in a quiet protest, they were soon engulfed by a surging crowd that pushed and chanted as they closed in on the group.

Police quickly intervened, surrounding the protesters and escorting them out of the park as the crowd followed behind, continuing to chant. No one was injured and police set up a space for the protesters across the street with horse-mounted officers stationed in between the two crowds.

"Our rights to demonstrate were trampled on," demonstrator Newt Young of Torrance said of the experience. "They're not friendly."

From the stage inside the park, labor union officials urged the crowd to push for workers' rights.

"Get ready to rumble!" shouted Ray Ortiz of ILWU Local 13. "Today's a beautiful day to see all these people marching (against) the war on labor."


Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who spent the day elsewhere attending a celebration for the city's 225th birthday, was denounced from the stage by one speaker as a "scab." A former union organizer, the mayor crossed a picket line last month -- the first time in his life, he said -- when some 7,500 members of the Engineers and Architects Association staged a two-day strike.

"Anyone who really holds (labor) principles in their heart doesn't cross a picket line," said Bob Aquino of the Engineers and Architects Association. "Anyone who does cross a legal picket line is a scab and they'll remain that for the rest of their lives."

For city firefighter Paul Gilbrook, Labor Day meant laboring -- over a hot grill sizzling with hot dogs.

"This is a day of solidarity for the working class," said Gilbrook, first vice president of Los Angeles City Firefighters Local 112. "It's also for getting united against (President) Bush and (Gov.) Schwarzenegger and anyone who wants to take salaries and benefits away from workers."

With midterm elections just around the corner, politics was never far from view or earshot. Booths urged people to register to vote, sign petitions, support various propositions, join third parties and buy sloganed T-shirts.

"Do you want to sign a petition?" a woman asked several people who paused at her "One Care Now" booth. "It's for health care for everybody."

"Iraqi Workers Organize!" blared one large sign. "Equity!" said another.

"A war budget leaves EVERY child behind," read T-shirts being hawked by United Teachers Los Angeles.

Looking uncomfortable under the blazing sun, a tall man dressed in a full Batman costume -- complete with black tights, cape and hooded mask -- posed for pictures with children while passing out "Yes on Proposition 89" (Clean Money and Fair Elections) stickers.

At another booth, a couple of surplus Gray Davis signs found a new use in 2006. They had been flipped over and scrawled with "Register to Vote" messages.

Meanwhile, two men standing in the midst of the milling crowd leaned in toward each other as they privately debated the future of the Iraq war.

"So, you're saying it would be bad if we pulled out?" one of them asked the other.


Earlier, the ILWU Drill Team, which got its start in the 1960s, was honored on its 40th anniversary.

Paul Williams of San Francisco, who works as a longshoreman in the Port of Oakland, was among drill team members performing and attending the rally and picnic afterward.

"I don't want to just work," he said of his decision to join the 25-member drill team based in Northern California. "If I can represent the union and my brothers and sisters to help open doors for others, that's what I want to do. It's not all about (earning) the money."

http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_4287227

Article Launched: 9/04/2006 09:10 PM


Immigration fireworks at parade
Union festivities attract border activists.
By Greg Mellen, Staff writer
Long Beach Press Telegram

Photo Gallery
Labor Day parade
WILMINGTON - For the most part, the 27th annual Labor Day Labor Solidarity proceedings in Wilmington went off without a hitch.
But not without some spice.

While picnickers were loading up on hot dogs and sodas and listening to union speeches, about a dozen activists from Save Our State and the Minuteman Project made an unexpected appearance and added a little heat to the Monday holiday.

Waving American flags and bearing posters with sayings such as "illegal immigration is not civil rights," the protesters appeared on a knoll at Banning Park, where they were almost immediately confronted by a large group unionists as well as of members of Hermandad Mexicana LatinoAmericana, a pro-immigrant organization that marched in the parade and was one of the larger groups on hand.

After some jostling and heated debate, the two groups were separated by a large contingent of parade security personnel representing the International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union.

Soon after, Los Angeles Police Department officers, several on bikes and four-wheel all-terrain vehicles, cordoned off the protesters and escorted them out of the park, while a large group of event-goers followed.

Chanting "union, union," and "racists go home," the picnickers easily drowned out a short-lived attempt at a "USA" chant by Minutemen and Save Our State members.

Standing across M Street from Banning Park, Deborah Grais, wearing a Campo Minutemen T-shirt, said she came to the event because she views illegal immigrants as "scabs" who hurt rather than help unions.

The protesters said they felt mistreated by the union security personnel.

"I'm upset the police forced us to go," said Knewt Young of Torrance, as he held an American flag. "We were causing no problems. The only thing agitating was our presence."

Part of the acrimony may have arisen because the National Alliance for Immigrants' Rights had joined in the parade to call for a moratorium on deportations and amnesty for illegal aliens.

"You can't talk about immigration without labor and you can't talk about labor without immigration, they're one and the same," said Nativo Lopez of Hermandad Mexicana LatinoAmericana, adding that events such as Monday's parade and picnic put them "under one house."

There were no arrests and no injuries and the confrontation was dispersed in about 20 minutes.

Before the protestors' appearance, the parade and picnic went smoothly.

The event began with the Oakland ILWU Drill Team being recognized for its 40th anniversary. Wearing yellow T-shirts, white ILWU hats, black pants, yellow gloves and carrying longshoremen's traditional hooks, the group put on a 20-minute show before receiving a plaque from the ILWU local chapters.

The drill team debuted in July 1966 when it marched with Cesar Chavez down Market Street in San Francisco in a solidarity display.

Josh Williams, who founded the group, says it performs about 20 times per year, mostly on the West Coast.

"Whenever there's strife in the union, the drill team helps to unite us," said Anna Wills, a union and drill team member.

The parade was a spectacle of unionism, with carpenters, steel workers, pile drivers, flight attendants, nurses and machinists among the groups represented.

Each group seemed to have telltale colors. T-shirts bore a variety of messages, including an ILWU shirt with a snake emblazoned on the back and the message "will strike if provoked."

Several unions were on strike or contemplating strikes. The Los Angeles Engineer and Architects Association, fresh off a two-day strike, showed up in force with placards protesting conditions and wages.

Michael Davies, president of the local chapter, said his group didn't normally show up in the parade in such large numbers.

However, on Monday they wanted to show gratitude to the Teamsters in particular for honoring their work stoppage.

Flight attendants for Northwest Airlines were also contemplating a strike strategy they called "CHAOS" for "Creating Havoc Across Our System," which they said would consist of intermittent work stoppages and other actions.

Les Meeks, interim president of the local group, said his group's plight is not uncommon.

"We're not the only ones struggling," Meeks said. "All across America workers are struggling. There's a climate of corporate greed run amok."

At the post-parade picnic, representatives from disparate groups ranging from the Peace and Freedom Party to the International Workers of the World, or Wobblies, to the Colombia Peace Project, set up shop and handed out leaflets and sold T-shirts.

After the Minutemen and Save Our State protesters had left, a large tarpaulin was draped across the knoll, it said "The sun shines for everyone."

It had been painted by a man named Jose Matias, who said it was his message that "America is for everyone."

Greg Mellen can be reached at greg.mellen@presstelegram.com or (562) 499-1291.

Whatever happened to OUR right to freedom of assembly and free speech?

Seems illegal alien supporters want rights which they refuse to acknowledge that we have too.

What's wrong with that picture?