Northwest Labor Press published this photo from the Standing Rock protest encampment with Isaiah Barnes of the Sioux nation, and Jamison Roberts and Steve Hunt of Vancouver ILWU Local 4.
Excerpts from Northwest Labor Press:
On Thanksgiving Day, International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 4 put out a call for donations of cold weather gear for Standing Rock to be brought to the union hall. By Monday, Nov. 28, they’d filled a 14-foot trailer with warm clothes, boots, food, propane and other supplies.
Longshore worker Steve Hunt was calling into ILWU Local 4 to see what jobs were available when he heard about plans by Tacoma ILWU Local 23 President Dean McGrath and other ILWU members to go to Standing Rock. Hunt ended up joining more than a dozen ILWU members from Locals 19, 23, and 4 for the trek to Standing Rock.
At the camp, finding that camp donation centers were backlogged, Hunt volunteered to help set up tents. He chipped ice so that canoes could get in and out. And he worked kitchen duty, smoking 400 pounds of meat a day.
“ILWU stands behind an injury to one is an injury to all,” Hunt said, “and there’s an injury going on when private security and police are stamping on freedom to protest.”