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JwJ Shuts Down the Port of Tacoma Maersk Terminal – AGAIN As Maersk Continues to Violate Tacoma Low-Wage Worker Rights

Calling on Danish Maersk executives to intervene and stop rampant worker rights violations, Jobs with Justice picketers again shut down the Maersk Terminal on Thursday night just as a big ship pulled in to unload.  Check out the video report.  Managers at the Maersk Terminal in the Port of Tacoma, it seems, will do anything to avoid respecting low-wage worker rights and voices.  These managers have tried meager pay hikes and company-controlled unions, desperately reacting to JwJ pickets and activist emails in November.  They have tried unlawful union-busting tactics on behalf of the largest shipper in the world with a pro-union European reputation.  They fired George Twiggs on February 13.  They have tried curtailing our right to exercise free speech and the right to picket on public property.  We are standing strong and it's time to send another email round to Denmark. 

When George showed up to work as usual in the early morning, a manager tried to force him to sign a form agreeing to not talk to coworkers about "issues" or gather with them in non-work areas, among other things.  George, a low-wage security worker and strong union leader, refused this manager's demand to violate his basic worker rights and law and was told he would be fired by the end of his shift. That afternoon, managers called him into the office and suspended him for an entirely different reason— for distributing union information to co-workers.  The next day a manager fired George over the telephone, reading a statement allegedly from Maersk Terminals Security Manager Marvin Ferreira, "no matter how many yellow pieces of paper guards or longshore post, the guards will never belong to ILWU." 
 
Having filed a federal charge against the company over his discharge, George says, "Managers need to stop violating federal law and let us have the union we chose, which is ILWU Local 28. We deserve living wages, better medical benefits, and a voice on the job."

Please tell Maersk executives to reinstate George, respect workers' choice, and stop violating worker rights.  Maersk management needs to hear from all of us that we will be back unless it cleans up its anti-worker policies.  Please write Maersk (APM Terminal) CEO Kim Fejfer, North American President Eric Sisco, and Tacoma Terminal Manager Jack Craig by filling out the form on the right and clicking "Send this Message".