Bay Area Longshore Union Workers to March & Rally Today – May Day

by Staff on May 1, 2008 · 4 comments

in Civil Disobedience, Labor, Organizing, Peace Movement

SAN FRANCISCO, CA. Hundreds of Bay Area dockworkers plan to march this morning after their stop-work meeting. The union members will depart from Beach St. at Mason St. in San Francisco and march along the Embarcadero to a rally at Justin Herman Plaza. This is part of the planned antiwar protest scheduled today by the International Longshore Workers Union. [For more info, go here to Indymedia.]

{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

j.stone May 1, 2008 at 11:20 am: In solidarity, I’m wondering if any readers out there remember when May 1st was the day that celebrated international workers day. Does anyone remember how or when we in the US went from that to “Law Day”, or National Day of Prayer”. Has the union movement become so meaningless in the states that these changes happened without even a whimper from organized labor, or the left in general? Did the union movement become so co-opted and afraid of being “Red-baited they just capitulated? I’m just curious, this isn’t an attack on the union movement so don’t go ballistic, just would like some background on how this happened if anyone has the info.

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Frank Gormlie May 1, 2008 at 11:23 am: J. Stone, please refer to our article posted earlier “May Day Is Our Workers’ Day”. Go here for the link.

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jettyboy May 1, 2008 at 12:26 pm: Thanks Frank, I know the history of how May Day started, what I want to know is how and when did it become replaced nationally with Law Day or National Day of Prayer?

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Frank Gormlie May 1, 2008 at 4:19 pm: In 1958 Congress declared May 1st as Loyalty Day, in a direct attempt to bury its radical roots during the cold war.

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