As thousands of people prepare to converge downtown tomorrow in Oakland for the planned general strike, it appears as though police are going to continue their hands-off approach to the protesters and their day of action.
Mercury News reports that City Administrator Deanna Santana was prepared to quit because of the “mayor’s meddling in policing and about-face on the Occupy Oakland camp.” Mayor Quan publicly apologised for the police response in Oakland following the brutal crackdown on protesters that led to veteran Scott Olsen being hospitalized in critical condition.
Police and Quan have consistently denied the use of rubber bullets, though Police Chief Howard Jordan now admits other law enforcement agencies were called in to provide assistance, and they may have used the other ammunition even though they were supposed to follow Oakland’s rules.
What remains unclear about Wednesday’s general strike is how well-organized the event is and what level of support unions plan to lend the protesters. Major labor unions in the city have voiced support, but of course most of those workers can’t legally strike while under contract. However some say they plan to take the day off, participate during off hours, or walk off the job spontaneously.
Rebecca Band, spokeswoman for the California Labor Federation, said union members will be participating in several ways, including a march to a Wells Fargo branch. They’ll also be cooking from 4:30 to 8 p.m. for protesters.
Wells Fargo plans to “run our business on Wednesday the same way we run it any other day,” said spokeswoman Holly Rockwell.
Occupy representatives said in a statement that they will hit the port to show “solidarity with longshore workers in their struggle against EGT in Longview, Wash.” EGT is a grain exporter.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union local units, which do most of the work at the port, expressed support for the Occupy protest while noting they haven’t authorized a strike. But if enough protesters gather outside the port, union workers could deem it a community picket line and refuse to cross it for their 7 p.m. shift, one spokesman said.
The longshore workers have been great allies to the Occupy movement. Here is video of the longshore workers in Oakland calling for a general strike:
The reaction from city officials is also mixed. Councilwomen Jane Brunner and Nancy Nadel have both expressed their support of the general strike, while Council President Larry Reid said the strike will have a “devastating” effect on the city’s image with business.
Organizers have also expressed plans to march outside banks, corporations, foreclosed homes, schools and libraries during the broad-based call to action.
Some have asserted scepticism about the general strike. One of my In These Times colleagues, labor journalist Mike Elk points out that simply calling a day of action a “general strike” doesn’t make it so.
“If a general strike was going to happen, trust me you wouldn’t have to rely on a press release to know it. You would know in the street,” Elk tweeted yesterday.
The very fact that general strikes are illegal explains why unions are showcasing their support in very careful terms, and are strategically planning how best to represent their solidarity i.e. participating during off hours or taking the day off from work.
As of right now, it appears as though the day of action may attract thousands of participants, and draw support from some unions, but this by no means constitutes a general strike. Taft-Hartley makes a general strike illegal for private sector workers, and illegal for most public workers under various state laws. Indeed, the very laws of the land make it impossible for labor to engage in that kind of across-the-board, massive display of civil disobedience, which is a separate conversation entirely, but one we should definitely have.
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