The dockworkers' union, the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) Local 1422, has called a solidarity rally November 14 in Charleston to coincide with the start of the trial of the five. In Detroit on October 18, Local 1422 president Ken Riley spoke to more than 100 people at a fund-raiser sponsored by Local 600 of the United Auto Workers. The union president said that thanks to longshore unions in Spain, Sweden, Australia, Japan, India, Brazil, Chile, and other countries, the union has won considerable international solidarity for the Charleston 5, as the dockworkers have become known.

The January 2000 picket line was part of the ILA's fight against an attempt to introduce a nonunion stevedore company on the docks. Nordana Line shipping company began using a nonunion outfit to service its ships the year before, and the union organized a number of picket line protests against this antilabor assault. Some 600 cops in full riot gear attacked the picket line. Both workers and cops were injured in the assault. Two days before, many Local 1422 members had joined a massive march in Columbia, South Carolina, demanding the Confederate battle flag be removed from atop the Capitol.

South Carolina's attorney general has made it clear he considers the prosecution of the Charleston 5 part of defending the antiunion "right-to-work" law in the state that is designed to prevent union contracts from stipulating all employees of a company belong to the union.

The case has won wide support across the South, where many workers see the battle as one to both defend the unions and to combat racism and discrimination.

The November 14 rally, Riley said, will "let the company know that our men will not stand alone. We will win this case," he added. "This would not have been possible had it not been for the support we have received. If we are victorious in this struggle, the tide will begin to turn in the South. We can take the South. The South is ripe for union organizing drives. We tell everyone that wherever there's a struggle in the South, ILA Local 1422 will be there to support it."  
 
Backing in Miami
A crowd of about 200 longshoremen and supporters of democratic rights gathered at the Joseph Caleb Center in Miami's Liberty City to demand justice for the Charleston Five. The meeting was cosponsored by South Florida Jobs with Justice and International Longshoreman Association (ILA) Local 1416. This first meeting in Miami supporting the case won broad sponsorship from local unions. The majority of the longshore local in Miami is African-American.

Riley said the state government organized the army of 600 riot police to attack the peaceful ILA picket line "to show us up as a bunch of thugs" as part of their drive to keep South Carolina union-free. Riley said the police were bused into town in Department of Corrections buses and used patrol boats and helicopters as part of their union-busting attack.

The ILA president said the union had won a major victory recently with the lifting of the house arrest of the five trade unionists. He said that dockworkers in ports around the world have told him that November 14 will "not go unnoticed." More than $1,000 was raised at the meeting for the defense fund.

Ilona Gersh, a member of the United Auto Workers, filed a report from Detroit. Eric Simpson is reporting from Miami.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home