Labor for Mumia
"Let us stand in the front ranks"
By Greg
Butterfield
Across the country, unions and labor councils are passing
resolutions demanding a new trial for death-row journalist
Mumia Abu-Jamal--and pledging their support for the April 24
"Millions for Mumia" demonstrations in Philadelphia and San
Francisco.
Abu-Jamal, an outspoken fighter against racism and police
brutality, has spent 17 years under a death sentence. He was
convicted in the 1981 killing of a white Philadelphia police
officer. Supporters call it a frame-up.
He could be executed within six months.
Why are growing numbers of unionists taking up the cause of
this African American political prisoner?
Dennis Rivera, president of New York's 1199 Health and Human
Services Union/ Service Employees, put it this way: "The labor
movement was nurtured and grew in the spirit of solidarity. An
injury to one is an injury to all."
Speaking on behalf of his 150,000 members at the Feb. 26
Town Hall "Evening of Justice for Mumia" in New York, Rivera
explained, "This is the spirit of historic campaigns to save
our labor martyrs, like the Haymarket defendants, Sacco and
Vanzetti, and Joe Hill."
Rivera pledged to mobilize busloads of 1199ers to the
Philadelphia protest.
Most 1199 members are people of color, women and immigrants.
Every day their communities confront police brutality and
judicial abuses.
Mumia defends labor
Mumia Abu-Jamal knows the importance of solidarity. From his
tiny cell on Pennsylvania's death row, the former Black Panther
continues to speak out in defense of workers fighting for their
rights.
During ABC-TV's lockout of the National Association of
Broadcast Employees and Technicians, Abu-Jamal refused to be
interviewed by the network's "20/20" news program. He said,
"I'd rather go to death than cross that picket line."
Abu-Jamal also championed the International Longshore and
Warehouse Union's actions in support of dockers in Liverpool,
England.
And the Longshore union has been active in supporting
Abu-Jamal's struggle for a new trial. The union is mobilizing
for the San Francisco action.
An array of union locals have joined the "Millions for
Mumia" effort--from Steel Workers Local 8751 representing
Boston school bus drivers, to Carpenters and Joiners Local 713
in Alameda County, Calif.
Others include Teachers Local 3882 representing New York
University clerical workers, the Bay Area Typographical Union,
Hotel and Restaurant Local 2, Inlandboatmen's Union of the
Pacific, Mail Handlers Local 300, and Workfairness, a workfare
workers' organization fighting for union rights.
AFSCME Local 375, representing engineers who work for the
city of New York, has endorsed "Millions for Mumia." Local 375
official Mike Gimbel has brought resolutions before the AFSCME
District Council 37 Executive Board and the New York Central
Labor Council.
At the Feb. 12-15 Pride At Work conference in Washington,
this AFL-CIO constituency group representing lesbian/gay/
bi/trans labor unionists unanimously passed a resolution to
back the "Millions for Mumia" mobilization.
Labor councils in Oakland, Calif., San Francisco and Seattle
have endorsed the April 24 marches and joined the efforts to
win a new trial for Abu-Jamal.
On March 15, the South Central Federation of Labor in
Madison, Wis.--which represents some 30,000 members--pledged
its support.
The council's resolution describes Abu-Jamal's trial as
"filled with blatant irregularities" and goes on to state: "The
U.S. legal system, and especially the death penalty, is
administered with class and race bias, with African Americans
being nearly four times more likely to receive death sentences
than whites.
"Therefore be it resolved, by delegates of the South Central
Federation of Labor, that we formally request the government of
the State of Pennsylvania to stay the execution of Mumia
Abu-Jamal and to grant him a new, fair trial, and ... go on
record supporting the April 24 demonstrations and urging
members to participate. ..."
Even more solidarity is needed, "Millions for Mumia"
organizers say.
Labor activists suggest unions pass resolutions endorsing
the April 24 demonstrations, get the word out to rank-and-file
members, reserve buses to take members to the marches, and
subsidize seats on the buses for unorganized workers and the
unemployed.
"If Mumia refuses to be silent, can the house of labor do
any less?" asks a labor-outreach leaflet. "Let us stand in the
front ranks of the struggle against racism, against injustice,
against the bosses' attempts to divide the workers and weaken
our movement."
For more information, readers can call the Millions for
Mumia Mobilization in New York at (212) 633-6646.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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