Lopera had met Italie at a recent Miami Jobs with Justice meeting, where the socialist garment worker was talking with union members about the First Amendment free speech fight. Young people like Lopera have been among the most outspoken supporters campaigning against the Socialist Workers candidate's unconstitutional firing.

"This is an issue worth fighting for," Lopera added. "Youth are in the forefront of this battle and people should listen to what young people have to say." The SEIU member joined a team at Florida International University gathering signatures on petitions to protest the firing and passing out literature produced by the Committee to Defend Freedom of Speech and the Bill of Rights.

Another young fighter, Heather Page, joined Italie passing out leaflets to workers at the plant gate in front of Goodwill Industries where he had worked as a sewing machine operator. Page helped petition for support at Miami Dade Community College. She is also joining the socialist candidate at a national meeting of Young Socialists and other political activists in Chicago the weekend of November 17–18 to report on the defense effort and encourage support.

Goodwill Industries of South Florida fired Italie from his job as a sewing machine operator October 22. The company action came a few days after the socialist appeared on television in a debate with other mayoral candidates before some 400 people at Miami-Dade Community College in which he stated his opposition to the U.S. war in Afghanistan, his defense of the Cuban Revolution, and his support for union-organizing efforts.

Italie appeared on the evening news after the campus debate, and for the next two days supervisors on the job began to ask him about his campaign. Four days after the debate, Italie's supervisor called him into the personnel office. There, the mayoral candidate was told by a company manager: "I have been assigned to tell you that because of your views of the U.S. government, you are a disruptive force and cannot work here any longer. Get your belongings and go."

Goodwill chief executive officer Dennis Pastrana acknowledged that Italie had been fired because of his political statements, telling the Miami Herald October 30 that "we cannot have anyone who is attempting to subvert the United States of America" work at the plant. The company does not claim Italie was fired for his conduct on the job, such as quality of work, interfering with production, or for talking with co-workers.

On the radio program "Sound Off" based in Fort Myers, Italie said supporters of the fight to defend the First Amendment "are winning a hearing from working people for the right to advocate views contrary to the policies of the government." The host, Sasha, invited Italie to speak after hearing him earlier in the week on the Francisco Aruca radio program in Miami. Aruca is a well-known opponent of the U.S. embargo of Cuba and supporter of a normalization of relations between the two countries.

On the "Sound Off" program Italie explained that his firing comes in the context of other attacks on democratic rights in Florida and around the country. "The U.S. Congress has passed new legislation," said Italie, "that makes it easier for the FBI and other government agencies to spy on and harass opponents of government policy, in particular demonizing immigrants and targeting them for harsher restrictions on their rights."  
 
Black firefighters win reinstatement
The socialist candidate added that in Miami a victory was won when three Black firefighters recently returned to work after a nearly two-month suspension for objecting to placing a large American flag on the truck they were assigned to. "These three firefighters--Terry Williams, James Moore, and William Clark--stood up to a storm of criticism and false press reports," stated Italie, "and showed the courage and determination all workers and farmers will need as we speak out against racism and war, and in defense of our right to oppose government policy in this country and around the world."

In early November the Miami-Dade Fire Department cleared all three of any wrongdoing and the three returned to work.

Opponents of the U.S. embargo of Cuba expressed their support for this free speech fight at meetings of the Alianza Martiana, a largely Cuban group in Miami. At a November 9 meeting, Andrés Gómez, who is a leader of the Antonio Maceo Brigade, introduced Italie to some 50 participants.

"Michael Italie has a long history of speaking out in opposition to the embargo of Cuba and other hostile U.S. acts against Cuba," said Gómez. "As the Socialist Workers Party candidate for mayor of Miami, Mike defended the Cuban revolutionary process and he deserves our support."

Italie explained to the meeting that Goodwill fired him not just for his opposition to the U.S. war in Afghanistan and his support of the Cuban Revolution, "but because I speak out about the importance of workers organizing unions to advance their conditions and rights on the job." Goodwill is a notorious antiunion company, said Italie, "In fact they take advantage of loopholes in the minimum wage laws to pay many workers as little as $1, $2 or $3 per hour. These bosses don't like any workers who speak up for their rights; they view us as a challenge to their power and profits."

At the meeting Alianza Martiana activists collected 45 signatures on Committee to Defend Freedom of Speech and the Bill of Rights petitions that call on the mayor and city commissioners to "throw the full weight of the Miami city government behind Michael Italie's demand that his unjust firing be reversed and that he be reinstated to his job at Goodwill Industries."

A truck driver at the meeting told Italie that he carries around a clipping from El Nuevo Herald about the socialist campaign as a tool to tell other workers about the fight against this political firing. He noted that El Nuevo Herald only has had this one brief article on the socialist campaign.

In order to make Goodwill Industries pay the highest possible political price for the firing, supporters of Michael Italie will be taking to the streets during the annual Miami bookfair, handing out fact sheets and gathering petitions against the firing.

"Winning the support of individuals as well as organizations is critical to maintaining momentum in this fight to defend workers' rights," Italie reported to the first meeting of the Committee to Defend Freedom of Speech and the Bill of Rights. The Miami committee has produced a "truth kit" with a fact sheet and press coverage on the firing and a statement that can be signed by those wanting to defend Italie's rights.

The fact sheet is now available in English, Spanish, and French. To receive this packet, to obtain other information, and to send urgently needed contributions, contact the Committee to Defend Freedom of Speech and the Bill of Rights, P.O. Box 510127, Miami, FL 33151-0127. Tel: (305) 724-5965. Checks should be made out to the Free Speech Defense Fund.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home