On that day some 600 state, county, and city cops mobilized to allow Nordana Lines to unload a ship with nonunion labor. Since December, the Danish company has been using a nonunion stevedoring company, after 22 years of its ships being unloaded by ILA members.

Initial police charges against eight of the dockworkers were dropped due to lack of evidence, but a state grand jury reindicted four of the workers on felony charges of rioting and conspiracy.

The defense fund set up by Local 1422 to fight these charges has been gaining support from longshoremen and others across the country and internationally, reported Kenneth Riley, president of the local.. "We just got a contribution from Sweden," he said. ILA locals from Tacoma, Washington; New Orleans; Savannah, Georgia; and British Columbia are among those that have sent funds. Riley recently addressed the Great Lakes district convention of the ILA and "got a great response."

The union is also holding weekly fund-raising dinners at the union hall on Wednesdays, when workers come by to pick up their paychecks.

Meanwhile, ILA members continue to set up informational pickets each time a Nordana ship comes into port. Court injunctions have limited these pickets to 19 union members. Riley said that ILA members at other ports are refusing to work Nordana ships while the union tries to reach an agreement with the company.  
 
 
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