An ILA Local 1422 picket line in January 2000 protesting Nordana Lines' use of a nonunion company was attacked by 600 riot police equipped with dogs, horses, armored vehicles, and helicopters. The union members resisted the assault, showing their determination to stop this move to undermine organized labor on the waterfront. The government later indicted the five workers as part of their attempt to portray the union as responsible for what was a well-prepared cop attack.

The five, who face five-year prison sentences on felony charges, are presently under house arrest. They were granted permission to leave town in order to participate in a speaking tour in their defense.

The meeting here, held at the International Longshoremen's and Warehouse-men's Union (ILWU) Local 10 hall, was one of a number of events in the Bay Area by a delegation of Kenneth Riley, Local 1422 president, the local vice president, and two of the workers facing frame-up charges.

Trent Willis, a member of Local 10 and secretary treasurer of the Committee in Defense of Charleston Longshore Workers, chaired the event. He reported that the Charleston unionists had just participated in a rally of 200 people demanding a contract for members of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union. Riley also spoke at a rally of 300 at the San Francisco airport before members of the International Association of Machinists, which organizes mechanics, ramp workers, and cleaners at United Airlines who are in an ongoing contract fight with the company.

Riley told the meeting that Nordana's attempt to unload its ships with nonunion labor "would have spelled the beginning of the end" for the union and for "industry standards that took 40–50 years to build up in the South."

The union "tried to negotiate with the company and offered concessions," he said. "We then put up informational pickets. The second ship came and we put up informational pickets again. The third time the same thing happened. When the next vessel was scheduled to come, there were 50,000 men and women in Columbia, South Carolina, protesting the Confederate flag flying over the capitol. Many of our members were there."

The next day, Nordana began using nonunion labor on the ship for the fourth time. "Our union hall is only 150 yards from the main gate," Riley explained. "We saw prison buses, armored vehicles, cops on horseback, and snipers on the roof." After workers set up the informational picket line at midnight January 20, the cops attacked.

"That night nine members were arrested and charged with simple trespassing. It took until 3:00 p.m. the next day to get them out. The nine men were beaten up. Every time the union bailed them out they would be rearrested.  
 
'Drop the charges'
"We did get our jobs back because of solidarity, but we will not have total victory until the charges are dropped. When these men go to trial, there will be a mass rally in Charleston, South Carolina," Riley told the crowd. "The International Dockworkers Council represents workers in 14 countries," he said, indicating the labor support the defense case is receiving. "They said that if Nordana comes to their ports while they are in conflict with South Carolina dockworkers, the ships will not be loaded. A woman from West Virginia, the wife of a coal miner, said, "I only have $5 but I hope it goes a long way."

Leroy Phillips, a member of ILWU Local 10 attending the meeting, told the Militant, "The only way you're going to make money-hungry, greedy people listen is to take their money away. This meeting is a step in the right direction to unite the working class. The rich have exploited workers from the beginning of time."

To contribute money or messages of support to the ILA, write to The Dockworkers Defense Fund at 910 Morrison Drive, Charleston, South Carolina 29403. The union is also encouraging protest messages to be sent. Write to the state attorney general and governor's office in South Carolina.

Deborah Liatos is a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 120.  
 
 
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