Late Monday night, the ILWU was contacted by Royal Caribbean Lines with an emergency request to work a cruise ship destined for San Juan.

There were no orders for ILWU member to work the ship due to the lockout, but members of the local agreed to work it anyway in order to assure passenger safety and convenience.

The cruise line was forced to come directly to the union because members of the PMA who normally are responsible for scheduling assistance to cruise lines were enforcing a lockout of ILWU members. The Royal Caribbean officials said that Stevedore Services of America refused to discuss their crisis with them, which left the company in a very serious crisis.

The cruise company requested 30 ILWU workers, but the local union provided 100 people to make sure the docking and unloading occurred quickly and without incident. The ILWU members are doing the work without any cooperation from the Port of Seattle or SSA. The ILWU members volunteered their services for free, and agreed that any pay or tips we received would go to charity.

ILWU Local 19 members in Seattle have committed to continuing to work any cruise ship that enters the Port of Seattle.