Socialist Action /July 2001
South Carolina Says: 'Free the Charlseton
Five!'
By MARTY GOODMAN
COLUMBIA, S.C.-Some 5000 demonstrators gathered
here on June 9, chanting, "Free the Charleston Five!" The Charleston
Five are trade unionists framed on felony riot charges stemming from a police
attack on a union picket line against a non-union ship docked at a Charleston,
S.C., port. The five have been under house arrest.
The rally took place at the state capitol building,
where the racist Confederate flag flew under the watchful eye of police
sharpshooters.
The rally was sponsored by the South Carolina AFL-CIO
and the Progressive Network. Union delegations came from Georgia, Tennessee,
Florida, North Carolina, Missouri, Illinois, and New York. Longshoremen
came from as far away as the ports of Seattle and Tacoma and overseas.
Larry Adams, president of the Mailhandlers Union
Local 300 of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, said at a pre-march
rally, "We come not as missionaries but as militant class soldiers
standing shoulder to shoulder with you. Same fight, different front."
Swedish dockworkers' union President Bjorn Borg
of Stockholm-a member of the International Dockworkers' Council, an organization
that grew out of the militant Liverpool dockers' struggle-said, "We
demand that all of the charges against the Charleston Five be dropped. Five
good men who did nothing but exercise their fundamental trade-union, citizen
and human rights, peacefully defending their jobs.
"The violation of workers rights here in South
Carolina is of importance to every longshoreman, wherever he is. If the
Charleston Five are not set free, that will not go unnoticed in ports around
the world. Long live worker's international solidarity!"
The International Dockworkers' Council affiliate
in Spain took action against the Nordana shipping line; their solidarity
helped win a contract for the Charleston ILA. The Longshore Division of
the ILWU voted for an international day of action on the first day of the
trial and is calling on the ILA to join in shutting down both U.S. coasts.
Other speakers included preachers, politicians, celebrities, and leaders
of Black organizations.
Unfortunately, a statement to the rally from African
American death-row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal was not read to the
crowd. The statement reads, "I support the Charleston longshoremen's
fight for freedom to protest free from state violation and judicial repression.
All working people should unite behind this union fight in defense of the
First Amendment right to assembly-and to defend the right to fight for compliance
with a broken, shattered contract."
The Charleston Five were arrested on Jan. 20, 2000,
during a peaceful union picket of a non-union ship belonging to the Nordana
shipping line. In October 1999, Nordana shipping began the use of non-union
labor from a company called WSI after employing members of Local 1422 for
23 years.
About 600 cops-with armored cars, dogs, horses,
helicopters, patrol boats, concussion grenades, tear gas, and rubber bullets-attacked
the 130 people on the picket line.
Arrested were four Black members of the International
Longshoremen's Association (ILA) Local 1422, a local that is 99 percent
African American, and one white member of ILA Local 1771. At one point a
cop ran out of the police line and clubbed ILA Local 1422 President Ken
Riley on the forehead. A fight ensued.
Nine were arrested on misdemeanors (Riley was not
arrested). Later, charges were dropped in a negotiated settlement with police.
Then State Attorney General Charlie Condon, a candidate for governor, indicted
five workers on felony riot charges. Condon has called for "jail, jail,
and more jail" for the Charleston Five.
Following the indictments the ILA succeeded in
bringing Nordana shipping back to the table and worked out an agreement
acceptable to both. However, WSI, the scab outfit that supplied the non-union
workers, continues to sue ILA Local 1422 and Ken Riley and Local 1771, the
Charleston Checkers and Clerk's Local, for $1.5 million in alleged financial
losses.
This frame-up is a threat to unions everywhere.
South Carolina is a so-called "right to work" state, which enables
management to bust unionization drives and strikes. South Carolina's corporate
and political elite actively promote their state as having the lowest rate
of unionization in the country.
South Carolina Democratic and Republican party
politicians are now competing over who is more anti-labor. In recent months,
legislation passed one or both chambers of the state legislature that would
prevent cities from establishing a minimum wage higher than the federal
minimum.
The Charleston Five case is to be heard in court
in September. There will be nationwide actions in their defense. For updates
on solidarity actions, call (1-888) 716-7362. Make out checks to Dockworkers
Defense Fund at 910 Morrison Drive, Charleston, SC 29403.
Socialist Action /July 2001 |