As Big Labor becomes increasingly irrelevant in American Society, labor bosses have grasped at straws to stay in the news and in the pockets of an ever-decreasing membership. What else would explain a labor union striking in support of withdrawing from Iraq?

Thousands of dockworkers at West Coast ports stayed off the job on Thursday in what their union said was a call for an end to the war in Iraq.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union said more than 25,000 members in 29 ports stayed off the job. The action came despite an order issued Wednesday by an arbitrator directing the union to tell its members to report for work as usual in response to a request from employers.

"Longshore workers are standing down on the job and standing up for America," Bob McEllrath, the union's president, said in a statement. "We're supporting the troops and telling politicians in Washington that it's time to end the war in Iraq."

I don't share the opinion that bringing the troops home from the war just as we are finally positioned to be able to hand a majority of the security responsibility for the country back to Iraqis can be construed as  "supporting the troops". Supporting the troops and honoring those that have fallen can only be achieved by allowing them to finish the job thus creating a legacy that (unlike Vietnam) can be considered in terms of victory. I am further concerned that falling in with the likes of groups like "Code Pink" and other liberal lefties somehow wears the varnish on the perception that Longshoremen are rough and ready individuals.