"The response has been overwhelming," said ILA Local 1422 president Kenneth Riley in a January 26 phone interview. Riley said he has been "constantly moving" throughout the United States and internationally to explain the longshoremen's fight and raise contributions to the Dockworkers' Defense Fund. He had spoken earlier that day at the College of Charleston to a sociology conference. The week before he addressed participants in the Martin Luther King Day parade in Greensboro, North Carolina, which coincided with an AFL-CIO conference on civil rights.

Riley will be back on the road next week, participating in a regional meeting of AFL-CIO officials in Atlanta and the International Dockworkers Council meeting in Barcelona, Spain. A teach-in open to students and the community is scheduled at the College of Charleston the evening of February 8.

At the heart of the defense case is the fight to defend union rights in South Carolina. In December 1999, Nordana Lines began using a nonunion stevedoring company to service its ships at the Charleston port, paying workers less than half of what they had been paying ILA members under the terms of the union's agreement with the Container Carrier Council. ILA members responded to this challenge by picketing Nordana. Just after midnight the morning of Jan. 20, 2000, some 600 cops assaulted hundreds of dockworkers as they attempted to march from their union hall to the port to picket one of Nordana's ships.

The cops "provoked what happened," one union member told the Militant soon after the assault. A number of workers were injured by the police, who used shock grenades, smoke bombs, dogs, and tear gas. A police cruiser struck at least one protester. The press reported that police fired guns containing "bean-bag-like" projectiles at the crowd to move them back.

At one point, when the union president tried to mediate, a policeman hit him in the head with a baton.

Eight unionists were arrested the night of the cop riot, but a magistrate threw out the charges for lack of evidence. State officials would not let the matter rest, and got grand jury indictments against five longshoremen on various charges including criminal conspiracy, riot, and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. These felony charges carry penalties up to 10 years in prison.

State attorney general Charles Condon has justified his office's campaign against the ILA on grounds that he is upholding South Carolina's antiunion "right to work" laws. While awaiting trial, the "Charleston Five" face draconian restrictions, including not leaving their homes at night unless they are working or at a union meeting.

Following the police riot, members of ILA Local 1422 continued to picket Nordana Lines, and last April won an agreement to resume working the company's ships. They have reached out for support from other unions against the criminal frame-up, and against a civil lawsuit for "damages" filed by the nonunion stevedoring company hired by Nordana.

Over the last year the union local, whose membership is majority Black, has also joined actions demanding the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the state capitol. Three days before the police riot, a large contingent of ILA members took part in the 50,000-strong Martin Luther King Day rally to bring down the racist symbol in Columbia, South Carolina. The longshoremen also led the fourth annual Labor Day rally and picnic in Charleston last September.

According to Riley, solidarity actions will be held in ports across the United States and internationally the opening day of the trial of the five framed-up dockworkers. Students plan to protest at Attorney General Condon's office that day as well.

Naomi Craine is a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees Local 1501.  
 
 
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