International Union of Operating Engineers Local 953 near Farmington, New Mexico, invited Alyson Kennedy and Tamar Rosenfeld to speak about the Militant Fighting Fund—which is organizing the Militant’s public defense campaign in the case—to their February 15 meeting. This majority Navajo local organizes surface and underground coal miners at BHP Billiton and was a strong backer of the Co-Op miners’ union-organizing struggle.

Wars Peterman, president of the local, encouraged members to endorse and contribute. Wanda Benally added her name and took flyers to post up at work. Robert Buckner, treasurer of the local, asked for a letter soliciting financial support from organizers of the fund so the local can send a donation.

The following day, Kennedy and this reporter, traveled to Window Rock, the capital of the Navajo Nation, where they spoke at a meeting of United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) Local 1332.

Sixteen UMWA members who work at the McKinley surface mine endorsed the Militant Fighting Fund. They include Samuel Johnson, president; Alvin Blackgoat, financial secretary; and Wilbur Willie, Sr., chair of the local’s political action committee.

Many expressed appreciation for the Militant’s honest coverage of the Co-Op miners’ struggle, and also for its reporting on numerous battles of miners on the Navajo Nation.

“The support among miners in New Mexico and Arizona, along with other prominent endorsements, helps build the kind of labor rights and free speech fight that can have a bearing on the outcome of the C.W. Mining lawsuit,” said in an interview Argiris Malapanis, editor of the Militant who is also a defendant in the case. “There are big stakes in defending the rights of a newspaper like the Militant—which proudly states on its masthead that it’s published in the interests of working people—to report accurately on workers’ struggles. The coal bosses and other employers want to stifle the right of workers to tell their stories and have them published, including about unsafe working conditions, before people die on the job, or write articles themselves about struggles they are involved in.

“Backing every effort to organize the mines and other work places, and expanding support for the Militant Fighting Fund, which vigorously publicizes the fight of all the defendants to dismiss the coal boss harassment suit, is key to winning this case,” said Malapanis.

In Beaumont, Texas, International Longshoremen’s Association Local 21 signed on last week. United Auto Workers Local 2188 at the Delphi plant in Fitzgerald, Georgia, endorsed, too, and contributed $300.

So far in February, 217 new endorsers—including students, leaders of immigrant rights and church groups, and many unionists—have signed for the Militant Fighting Fund.

Endorsements and contributions can be sent to Militant Fighting Fund, P.O. Box 520994, Salt Lake City, Utah 84152; Fax (801) 924-5910; E-mail: MilitantFightingFund@yahoo.com
 
 
Related articles:
Judge throws out defamation suit by Utah coal boss against two dailies
Holds off decision on motions to dismiss case against ‘Militant,’ 16 Co-Op miners, UMWA  
 
 
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