Workers' rights vs. racist repression
Support for Charleston 5 is key to organizing South
By Mary
Owen
On Saturday, June 9, a labor and civil rights march
outside the statehouse in Columbia, S.C., will launch an
international campaign to support the Charleston 5
dockworkers--mainly African American--who face felony charges
and years in jail for fighting for their rights.
The event is expected to draw union and community
activists from throughout the South and as far north as New
York City and Newark, N.J., where buses are being organized.
They will march and rally to demand that South Carolina drop
all charges against the Charleston 5 and abandon plans to
pass anti-worker legislation in a state where only 4 percent
of workers have unions.
The national AFL-CIO, its state affiliates in North
Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, and the South Carolina
Progressive Network of 41 groups, including the predominantly
African-American Longshore Local 1422, have gotten behind the
protest.
The Charleston 5 case originated in January 2000 when 130
longshore workers picketing a ship being unloaded by
non-union labor were attacked by 600 riot police. The cops
used armored cars, armored horses, dogs, helicopters,
concussion grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets.
But the implications of the case are even larger than
police brutality and strike at the heart of the racism that
in many ways represents the unfinished business of
Reconstruction in the South.
On a recent trip to New York City to gain labor and
community support, Local 1422 President Ken Riley explained
that it is no accident that most members of his local are
African American.
The hardest, dirtiest jobs
"We have an old newspaper ad from decades ago where the
stevedore companies openly asked for Black workers to apply,"
he told a gathering at the International Action Center. "They
recruited us for the hardest, dirtiest, most dangerous
jobs."
As time passed, however, the workers organized, turned the
tables on the bosses, and made Local 1422 a leader in civil
rights and union activism in South Carolina. The longshore
workers have also marched in Seattle against the World Trade
Organization and supported political prisoner Mumia
Abu-Jamal.
"We are active in the community and state politics. Our
union hall is used by many community groups in Charleston for
their meetings and events," said Riley. "We are proof that
working under a union contract can provide a living wage and
that being organized means political influence. That fact is
what has scared those who want to maintain the old ways."
According to Riley, South Carolina tries to lure
corporations by touting its low rate of unionization. So
Local 1422--which is organizing workers, building unity among
other longshore locals, and actively campaigned to get the
Confederate flag off the State Capitol--became a target of
coordinated repression.
"On Jan. 20, 2000, a Nordana ship, the Skodsberg, docked
in port," said Riley. "It had been held out at sea a few days
so that South Carolina law enforcement agencies would not
have to divide their forces between the huge demonstration of
more than 47,000 people--who rallied in Colu m bia, the
capital, on Jan. 17, demanding the removal of the Confederate
battle flag-- and 'protecting' 20 scabs unloading ships."
Not only did the cops attack picketing dockworkers,
arresting the Charleston 5, but WSI, the non-union
stevedoring company hired by Nordana, subsequently sued Local
1422, Clerks and Checkers Local 1771, and 27 individual
workers for over $1.5 million in damages. The June 9
demonstration will also demand that the lawsuit be
dropped.
Globalization and
international solidarity
The campaign to free the Charleston 5 is also unfolding in
an increasingly globalized capitalist economy in which the
struggles of workers in any part of the world reverberate
internationally. Charle ston longshore workers waged a
valiant battle against Nordana's use of non-union stevedores,
but Riley says it was international solidarity that helped
them win.
"Stevedores abroad, particularly in Spain, refused to
unload Nordana ships, and that brought the company quickly
back to the table," he stated, with the Danish shipping line
agreeing to resume using union crews in the port of
Charleston.
Similar international solidarity is pledged for the
Charleston 5. The International Transport Workers Federation,
representing millions of air, sea and land transportation
workers worldwide, has promised to organize a one-day work
stoppage on the opening day of their trial.
"The June 9 march on Columbia, S.C., is just the beginning
of building a strong movement to support the Charleston 5,"
says Johnnie Stevens, a labor/community outreach coordinator
for the International Action Center. "This case is part of
the struggle against racism, sexism and bigotry that is
indispensable to organizing workers throughout the South.
Labor and community activists need to find ways to spread the
word and support the case--from holding meetings and passing
resolutions to sending financial contributions."
More information is available at www.
iacenter.org/labor.htm or www.ilwu.org (click on the
Charleston 5 banner). Contact www.peoplesvideo.org to find
out about a cable access show on the Charleston 5 or for a
shorter video for organizing meetings.
To contribute to the defense fund, send checks payable to
"Dockworkers Defense Fund" to either: Campaign for Workers'
Rights in S.C., P.O. Box 21777, Charleston, SC, 29413 or
Dockworkers Defense Fund, attn: Robert J. Ford, 910 Morrison
Drive, Charleston, SC 29403.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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