Wael Elasady

In Portland, Ore., 500 Occupy supporters participated throughout the day in the protest against "Wall Street on the Waterfront," which was organized around an early morning mobilization and a rally later in the day. The demonstrators shut down operations at the largest terminals at the port.

The day's protests started early on with a 6 a.m. gathering at Kelley Point Park, where activists organized into two teams. About 300 workers and activists headed to Terminal 6, Portland's largest container terminal and the busiest shipping facility at the port. The remaining 200 headed to Terminal 5, which handles potash and other bulk commodities.

The energy at the picket was high, with participants chanting, "Banks got bailed out, workers got sold out." A giant capitalist pig puppet greedily shoving money into its mouth was on hand to represent the 1 percent.

While trucks attempting to offload cargo were prevented from entering the ports by the community picket, organizers of the Portland shutdown decided that workers would be asked not to cross the picket, but would be allowed through if they chose to. With very few exceptions, longshore workers chose to respect the community picket. By 10 a.m. it had been announced that the morning shifts had been, called off and both terminals closed with pay for the workers.

As people rested before the 4 p.m. rally and a second round of pickets during the evening shift, longshore workers and their family members arrived with pizza to help the protesters hold out until evening.

A 4 p.m. rally brought out another 500 protesters. When organizers received confirmation that Terminals 5 and 6 would not be reopened for the evening, all energy was shifted to closing Terminal 4. By 5:30 p.m., the port arbitrator had ruled the community picket represented a "safety hazard" and awarded workers four hours pay. With Terminal 4 shut down, protesters mobilized to close the Schnitzer Steel terminal, a privately owned facility just down the street from Terminal 4, which also is an ILWU shop.

In the week leading up to the port shutdown, the Willamette Weekly, a local newspaper, had published an article titled "Dreadlocks vs. Hardhats" that claimed union members were opposed to the shutdown and made out the Occupy movement as disconnected from rank-and-file workers and even dismissive of their concerns.

But December 12 itself showed this was a lie. In addition to the ILWU Local 8 members who wouldn't cross the community picket line, port drivers showed their support throughout the day with a steady stream of honks and fists of solidarity as they drove by the terminals.

Several family members of Local 8 members were also out supporting the picket. The wife of one dockworker did a "mic check" to thank the crowd for being out there and said that although the union's hands were tied because of the legal consequences of supporting a shutdown, rank-and-file ILWU members backed the action, and her husband was willing to go home without pay to support the shutdown.

As Jordan McIntyre, a union painter who helped with labor outreach for December 12, said, "The support from workers at the port has been incredible. We were out at the ports talking to workers multiple times a day during the organizing of this action, and today, we see them honoring the community picket. Occupy is a place for union members, non-union, and the unemployed to gather together to fight for change."