The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 6 announced on July 27, 2026, that they have agreed to a 60-day period of contract negotiations with the California and Hawaiian Sugar Company (C&H Sugar). The union represents around 100 warehouse workers at C&H in Crockett, California. The company has attempted to take away retiree health care, reduce overtime pay, eliminate the established seniority system, reduce sick leave, and unfairly schedule weekend work. It was the workers going on strike on June 15, 2026, that forced the company back to the bargaining table.
Below are solidarity statements with C&H workers from unions in Greece, Spain, Japan, and France.
Previously, Struggle-La Lucha published a solidarity statement from the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) as well as an analysis of this struggle up to July 31, incorporating original interview material from Jarvis Payne of ILWU Local 6 and ILWU Local 10 retiree Clarence Thomas.
Greece: ENEDEP Stands in Solidarity with the Strike of ILWU Local 6 and the Dockworkers of ILWU Local 10
ENEDEP, the Dockworker’s union of Piraeus Port, expresses its class-based and internationalist solidarity with the workers of ILWU Local 6, who have been on strike for several weeks at the C&H Sugar facilities in Crockett, California, as well as with the dockworkers of ILWU Local 10, who are standing firmly by their side.
The workers of Local 6 are striking against the company’s attempt to impose a poverty-level collective bargaining agreement, with cuts to healthcare coverage, overtime, leave and seniority rights. The company is seeking to crush the organised strength of the workers, undermine the union and put its profits above the lives and needs of the workers.
The dockworkers of Local 10 refused to unload the Tai Herald, proving in practice that solidarity is the workers’ most powerful weapon. Faced with this determination, the company attempted to bypass the strike by moving the vessel to another terminal and employing a strikebreaking operation.
We condemn employer intimidation, the use of strikebreakers and police repression against workers defending their right to organise collectively, to fight for better wages and working conditions, and to strike.
The strike at C&H Sugar concerns all dockworkers and all workers who are confronted with the same profit-driven policy: work intensification, cuts, attacks on collective bargaining agreements, the undermining of trade unions and the repression of workers’ struggles.
From Piraeus to the ports of California, workers share common interests and face a common enemy. Shipowners, multinational corporations, the states and the governments that serve them in Greece, the United States and the European Union want workers divided and afraid, forced to bow their heads for the profits and wars of a handful of exploiters.
From Greece to the United States, we respond with organisation, class unity and internationalist solidarity.
Hands off the strikers and the trade unions!
End all prosecutions and persecution of trade unionists and protesters!
Sign a collective bargaining agreement now that meets the workers’ demands and needs!
Victory to the strike of ILWU Local 6!
Solidarity with the dockworkers of ILWU Local 10!
Workers throughout the world have the power when we struggle together, organised and united!
Spain: Statement of support and international solidarity from Coordinadora to ILWU
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Coordinadora Estatal de Estibadores Portuarios (the Spanish Dockworkers’ Union) has been following with great concern and close attention the labor dispute you are facing at C&H Sugar. We want to express our full support for your defense of fundamental rights, including retiree healthcare, seniority rights, and decent working conditions. These are legitimate demands that have the full solidarity of dockworkers throughout Spain.
Our solidarity is far more than a symbolic gesture. It is part of a long-standing tradition of mutual support among dockworkers around the world. In 2000, during the struggle of the Charleston Five, dockworkers across Spain stood with the ILWU. In particular, dockworkers in the ports of Valencia, Algeciras, and Barcelona refused to handle cargo from vessels loaded in Charleston that had been moved outside the work of the dockworkers from that port. We remember that moment because it reminds us that what happens in one port is never just a local issue: an attack on one port is an attack on all of us.
We know that unity and solidarity are our greatest strength in times like these. We want you to know that you have the full support of Coordinadora and Spanish dockworkers. We will continue to follow developments closely and stand ready to support international solidarity initiatives that contribute to a fair and just resolution of this dispute.
In solidarity,
Antolín Goya González
Coordinador general de Coordinadora Estatal de Estibadores Portuarios (Spain)
Japan: Railway workers stand with ILWU
Dear Friends of ILWU,
We, International Labor Solidarity Committee of Doro-Chiba, strongly protest the union-busting, assaults and arrests of 10 union members and their supporters perpetrated by C&H Sugar Refinery and the police against ILWU Locals 6 and 10 and their allies. Furthermore, it is clear that C&H was also involved in the massacre of 19 sugarcane workers and their friends in Negros Occidental in the Philippines last April. They have repeatedly committed such wars against workers and farmers. We condemn these outrageous colonialist, imperialist atrocities.
The courageous strike by ILWU Local 6 against C&H, and the picket line established by Local 10, are legitimate struggles to protect working conditions and trade unions, and serve as a model of international working-class solidarity. We are proud to support these struggles.
In Solidarity,
International Labor Solidarity Committee of Doro-Chiba (National Railways Motive Power Union of Chiba)
France: Le Havre dockworkers offer full support to ILWU strikers
Dear comrades,
We are outraged to learn of the discrimination you have faced – and continue to face – due to your trade union activities aimed at defending your legitimate rights at the C&H Sugar refinery.
The criminalization of trade union action is a weapon used by the powerful to silence workers like us – in one of the few remaining sectors still capable of fighting to improve working conditions. We all observe that this type of repression is becoming increasingly common across the globe.
The authorities’ conduct toward the protesters is unacceptable.
Dear comrades, in light of this situation, we wish to offer you the full support of all the dockworkers at the Port of Le Havre whom we represent.
We also wish to extend our full support to the comrades who were injured or subjected to repression, as well as to their families.
Dear comrades, please accept the fraternal greetings of all the dockworkers at the Port of Le Havre.
Le secrétaire général, Johann Fortier
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