A cargo ship loaded with sugar and idling in Bay Area waters for weeks due to an escalating work strike by C&H warehouse employees was moved again Friday night to a dock at the company’s Crockett factory.
Some 90 workers have been on strike since June 15 over what they say is an unfair contract renewal. The ship’s docking comes days before scheduled mediations between C&H administrators and warehouse workers, who are represented by International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 6. The meetings are set for Monday and Wednesday.
The attempt to unload product and repeatedly relocate the Tai Herald cargo ship was seen by some as a direct attack on their cause.
“It was already a big fight. Then, it became a much bigger fight,” said Pedro de Sa, a representative from ILWU Local 6. According to de Sa, a second ship, called the Independent, was scheduled to arrive in Crockett on Sunday.
The Tai Herald was originally turned away from the company’s Crockett dock in June when longshoremen with ILWU Local 10 refused to unload sugar at the Crockett factory, in solidarity with the warehouse worker strike. The ship and its cargo have been floating at anchorage ever since.
At around 10 p.m. Friday, tugboats ferried the Tai Herald to the dock following an outcry after the company docked the ship in nearby Richmond on July 2, breaking the strike by unloading mountains of sugar onto the Levin Richmond Terminal — an area declared a Superfund site due to rampant DDT contamination.
According to C&H representatives, all sugar will eventually end up at the Crockett refinery as planned, regardless of strike activities.
“Our plan was always to discharge a portion of the raw sugar cargo from the vessel at Levin Terminal and then relocate it before their facility had to dock another previously scheduled ship,” said a C&H spokesperson.
The move came as a surprise to strikers, who have been working in shifts to keep a 24-hour watch over waterways, docks and the factory. Last week, 200-plus protesters showed up at the terminal to denounce the Tai Herald’s Richmond visit.
“Because it was so fast, they were actually able to get to the building,” said de Sa.
Workers were watching the Tai Herald on a marine vessel tracker as it left Richmond, allegedly speeding at 11 knots to make it to the dock without notice.
Word spread quickly among protesters. Shortly after docking, the Tai Herald was greeted with a protest by dozens of workers from ILWU Local 6 and Local 10 and members of the Bay Area’s Defend Negros Coalition, a group of Filipino activists denouncing the purchase of cane sugar from Negros Occidental, a province in the Philippines where the army recently massacred 19 people.
By Saturday morning, around 100 people had gathered outside the C&H factory.
Pressure builds ahead of mediation
The Crockett docking, aided by tugboats, broke strike lines, prompting a conversation between ILWU and the tugboat workers’ union, the International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots.
In a letter published Saturday, IOMM&P President Daniel Twohig advised tugboat pilots to support striking workers.
“As union members, we stand with working people when they are forced to take action in defense of their contract and their livelihoods,” states the letter.
“If you … encounter a recognized ILWU Picket Line/Picket boat or a vessel that is being picketed, do not make the decision on your own. Immediately contact your MM&P union representative for guidance.”
With IOMM&P agreeing to respect the water picket line in the future, de Sa said he isn’t sure the ship will be able to dock at all.
“I’m hoping this got their attention,” said Cesar Garibay of the week’s escalating protests. “That they know we’re serious about keeping that language, and that it’s better to work with us and come to some kind of solution we can agree on that benefits both parties.”