Protest at Lockheed Martin

Sunnyvale CA, April 23rd

Lockheed Martin Corp. is the largest military contractor to the United States Armed Forces, receiving $17 billion in Department of Defense contracts for the fiscal year ending in September of 2002 (1) . In 2002, Lockheed Martin gave $ 2,218,034 in political contributions during the 2002 election- cycle making it the #1 contributor in the weapons sector, with 42% of that money going to the Democrats and 58% to the Republicans (2). The political influence of Lockheed Martin is so great that it was recently awarded a contract to provide Poland- a “coalition of the willing” ally, with 48 F-16 fighter jets for 3.5 billion dollars (3) .

However, as luck would have it 4,000 Lockheed Martin machinists, who just happen to work in a plant in the Fort Worth area that manufactures F-16 fighter jets, are on strike. The members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 776 are on their 9th day of a strike. The workers of Local 776 are locked in a dispute over who will pay for medical benefits, the workers themselves or Lockheed Martin- a company that just reported $7.06 billion in sales for the quarter and earnings of $250 million in the three months ending March 31.

Anyway, because of the political influence and war profiteering of Lockheed Martin Corp. it is quite understandable why protesters in Sunnyvale California targeted Lockheed Martin facilities in protests yesterday morning. I arrived at the Lockheed Martin VTA light rail station at about 7:52am, with the actions already well underway. From the light rail station I could see a heavy police presence, and a line of riot police and around 10-11 police officers on horseback on the move as they prepared to flank the protesters who were blocking the entrance to Lockheed Martin at the intersection of 3rd and Mathilda. I had to settle with watching the action unfold from a distance- I was not allowed to cross the police lines since I did not have a press pass. Within a couple of minutes, the police managed to herd most of the protesters onto the curb, with the exception of those forming a human chain in the middle of the street. Once the police secured the area around the protesters forming a human chain, the Sunnyvale Fire Department came in to saw and drill the lockboxes off. I left the scene after a few minutes to conduct interviews and check out the action that was unfolding down the street at N. Mathilda and Bordeaux.

This was my first time covering a protest and not being an active participant in one, and it was awkward at first, but I enjoyed interviewing different protesters. In my interviews with protesters, I focused on their message and their thoughts of where the antiwar and anti-capitalism movement was headed now that the war in Iraq was in the occupation phase. In all I think this action was very successful, it disrupted Lockheed Martin operations for a few hours, it informed the public and got the attention of the local media.

Photos: http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/04/1602901.php


Source (1): The Wichita Eagle Apr. 18, 2003
“Bechtel's political clout helps land Iraq reconstruction bid”
Michael Liedtke Associated Press
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/business/5662973.htm

Source (2): http://www.opensecrets.org

Source (3): http://www.spacewar.com/2003/030422185337.i9jti501.html


I would like to thank the interviewees for their patience with a first timer, thank you.

My first interview was with Beth Cole, a part of the Raging Doves group- they were dressed up as “weapons inspectors.”