2011年12月12日星期一

I'm losing money, I'm losing the day

It's been an all-day event. The morning action was followed by an afternoon rally at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in front of Oakland City Hall -- formerly the site of an Occupy tent city. Speakers included Angela Davis and Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen
giubbotti moncler who was injured in a demonstration this fall during a violent confrontation with police.
A march to the nearby port started about 4 p.m., where officials were bracing for another slowdown.
From Los Angeles to as far away as Vancouver protesters picketed gates, beating drums, carrying signs such as "Shutdown Wall St. on the Waterfront," and causing longer wait times for trucks.
There were a handful of arrests so far, but no major clashes with police. Organizers aimed to cut into the profits of the corporations that run the docks, though it was not immediately clear how much the shutdowns would affect operations and what the economic loss would be.
Port officials in Oakland said that the protest affected operations during the morning shift, but did not completely close the port. During the height of the protest, long lines of trucks couldn't get past demonstratorsblocking terminal entrances. Representatives with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union said 75 percent of workers were sent home for safety reasons.
At least two entrances were blocked and protesters declared victory and disassembled, shortly after 10 a.m. Truck traffic was moving at some terminals, such as PortsAmerica and Matson, and later, at PortsAmerica. But others such as Hanjin, SSA and TraPac remained closed.
Lee Ranaldson and student driver Rick Parker had driven from Kansas with a refrigerated container of meat bound for Asia. But they had been waiting outside the TTI/Hanjin terminal for nearly five hours Monday for the gates to open. As an independent contractor, the time spent waiting is money lost and not recovered.
"I really don't know moncler jackets what they're protesting for," Ranaldson said.
Pablo Hernandez, an independent trucker from Salida, was also waiting in line outside TTI/Hanjin to pick up an empty container that he would then take to Arbuckle to be filled with rice and returned to the port. He drove by the entrance to the port early in the morning and left when he saw the protesters. He came back when somebody at a food truck told him the terminal might open in the afternoon. Normally,

Hernandez could pick up the empty container, go get the rice and return with the load on the same day. But not today.
"I'm losing money, I'm losing the day," he said. "It's a lot of money. We work five days a week and we know exactly how much we need for rent and bills, so if we don't work we come up short."
It turns out he want get in the gate at all Monday. TTI put out a notice that it decided to stay closed all day because of the early morning protests.
The protest began about 5:45 a.m., when demonstrators began a march from the West Oakland BART station to the port. No violence or injuries were reported, but there were tense moments when police officers in riot gear showed up at one point during the action.
About 7:30 a.m., the port released a statement that "maritime operations continue at the Port with sporadic disruptions for truckers trying to enter and exit marine terminal gates."
Two protesters were arrested for impeding traffic at the entrance to PortsAmerica, Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said at a news briefing this afternoon.
Protester Shake Anderson, who said he has been involved in the Occupy Oakland movement since the beginning, said the demonstrators' strategy is to keep a large crowd at the port to make it difficult for police to make arrests.
In a last-minute appeal on Sunday, Oakland Mayor Quan issued an open letter to protesters, telling them that shutting down the port could cost workers lost wages, and affect the ability of the port to attract business in the future.
"What is the target in this action? Who will it really hurt?" Quan wrote in her letter.
"The Port of Oakland is not the home of the 1 percent. Rather, it generates over 73,000 jobs in the region and is connected to more than 800,000 jobs across the country. It is one of the best sources of good paying blue-collar jobs left in our city," Quan wrote.
Monday's labor action comes just six weeks after a Nov. 2 general strike launched by cheap moncler jackets shut down the port here overnight.

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