Workers Shut Down Sugar Production & Port of Oakland! All Power to the Workers!

ILPS-US extends utmost solidarity with the militant struggle of the ILWU workers as they escalate their fights against C&H and in solidarity with the people's struggle in the Philippines. Workers are demonstrating the power of their unified action in shutting down a vital link in the supply chain, burning a multimillion dollar hole in the pockets of monopoly capitalists and are an inspiration to all workers fighting to end exploitation!

On Tuesday July 21st at 10am, hundreds of ILWU Local 10 workers walked off the job, shutting down operations at the Port of Oakland and several other Bay Area ports. They converged at the C&H Sugar Refinery in Crockett, California in militant response to C&H using scab labor to unload blood-sugar from the Tai Herald ship. Joined by community advocates and other unions holding the picket line, the dockworkers halted C&H sugar transport yesterday, and by the end of the day, refinery operations shut down completely.

ILWU has waged a powerful campaign to defend the hard-fought wages and benefits of Local 6 warehouse workers at the Crockett refinery against C&H's efforts to strip away healthcare, overtime, and sick-leave. Local 10 dockworkers refused to cross the strike line and unload the 35,000 metric tons of sugar from the Tai Herald. In respone to C&H bringing in scab labor to unload the sugar, more than 400 ILWU members, union allies, and community members protested in solidarity, blocking C&H from unloading, processing, and transporting sugar at the refinery. ILPS-US members in Northern California have joined the picket actions for over 5 weeks now, standing strong with the ILWU and Filipino community action yesterday to disrupt the sugar monopoly of American Sugar Refining which owns C&H.

Workers and community members across the supply chain have joined forces in international solidarity, fighting back against the exploitation and repression of workers and peasant farmers at the source of raw sugar in the Philippines. The Defend Negros Island NorCal Coalition joined in support of both Local 6 and Local 10 in their militant strike and connected their fight for livelihood and fair contracts to the struggle of farm workers and peasants in the Philippines breaking their backs to harvest sugarcane for C&H for $3-$6/day. On Negros Island, the "sugarbowl" of the Philippines, peasant farmers have organized and fought for basic livelihood and access to their own land and liveable wages. But they have also suffered deadly repression for their long history of organizing and resistance, with Negros also being notorious as the "massacre capital" of the country. Just 3 months ago on April 19th, the Armed Forces of the Philippines massacred 19 farm workers, journalists, human rights advocates, and even children in the sugar farming community, while Philippine President Marcos Jr. congratulated those military troops for their bloody repression of workers and community members. Among them were 2 Filipino Americans, Lyle Prijoles and Kai Sorem, who returned back to their homeland to learn from and share the stories of the struggle of Filipino peasants from the farms in Negros.

That is why ILWU workers and Filipino community organizers have called out C&H for their role in the exploitation and state-sponsored deadly repression of workers, maximizing their profits from "blood in their sugar." ILWU Local 10 President Mike Villeggiante recognized that their union organizing actions in the U.S. would get them killed if they were in the Philippines and the need to stand strong together. Local 10 will be releasing their unanimous resolution condemning the massacre of the Negros 19 and calling for justice and accountability for the victims and their families.

This powerful solidarity builds on centuries of worker-led and revolutionary people's resistance as well as solidarity against violent repression on the sugar plantations in Hawaii and Cuba, to the docks, warehouses and refineries in the U.S. It also includes successful efforts to support the 20 seafarers on the Tai Herald who have been unable to unload their cargo for over 5 weeks because of C&H's stubborn refusal to provide a fair contract to Local 6. The company tried to pressure the seafarers to operate the cranes and unload the sugar themselves, taking on the work of Local 10 dockworkers, but they asserted their right to refuse that work amidst the ongoing labor dispute. ILWU Local 10 passed another resolution the same night acknowledging and thanking the Taiwanese seafarers and their union for bravely standing down from breaking the strike and solidarity actions. Over the last month of strike actions, ILWU locals, other unions, Philippine solidarity and community organizations have come together to join the fight in Crockett from as far as Southern California, Portland, Seattle, and including Hawaii's ILWU Local 142, one of the earliest ILWU locals in the country.

The fight continues against violent repression by C&H and the intensely anti-union Trump administration. By the end of the day, local police declared Local 10's picket an unlawful assembly, detaining several workers and clearing the entrance to the refinery. C&H has now filed restraining orders against the workers, after previously firing several ILWU Local 6 workers for exercising their right to free speech. Despite the efforts of C&H and the state to repress the striking workers and break the strike, the worker and community solidarity completely shut down production at the C&H Sugar Refinery yesterday, for the first time in history. Militant action and international solidarity among workers and people's organizations has come together in a powerful way to amplify and advance their joint calls: "Fair Contract Now!" "From the Philippines to Crockett, Put People Over Profit!" "Justice for the Negros 19!"

ILPS-US will stand in unwavering solidarity with workers, communities, and peoples' struggles across the bloody sugar supply chain, from the farms and fields of the Philippines to the ships, warehouses and refineries in the U.S. Our member organizations, including unions and their solidarity committees, can join this fight against C&H and ASR, and against increasing state repression in the Philippines by Marcos Jr, following U.S. imperialist and fascist repression by Trump. We will build on this and other ILPS-US campaigns for People Over Profit and to Defend People's Struggles. Join us on the picket lines, with statements and resolutions in solidarity, and in actions from there to our homelands!

End the Bloody Sugar Supply Chain!

Fair Contract Now!

Justice for the Negros 19!

All Workers Unite!

Long Live International Solidarity!