Dockworkers strike against the war economy

Over the past two years, Italian dockworkers have often protested against arms shipments transiting the country’s ports. Italy’s Law 185/1990 bans such transits when they are bound for countries at war, and yet they occur very frequently.

Port workers took part in the most widespread mobilization in their history. On Friday, October 30, workers on the docks of nine Italian port cities walked off the job, not only to join the general strike that the rank-and-file union USB called across Italy but also to take part in the international day of protest against the arms trade and the exploitation of labor. 

Called by the global network Ports in Action, the initiative united 25 unions across 113 ports in 22 countries on all five continents for an entire day. In Italy, demonstrations were held in Ancona, Bari, Carrara, Civitavecchia, Genoa, Gioia Tauro, Livorno, Ravenna and Trieste. José Nivoi sums it up as “a massive labor action with a strong message: port workers will not work for war.” Nivoi is a USB union official and an activist with CALP, the collective of Genoa’s camalli, as the city’s dockworkers are known.

Over the past two years, Italian dockworkers have often protested against arms shipments transiting the country’s ports. Italy’s Law 185/1990 bans such transits when they are bound........

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