Lawrence Thibeaux
President
ILWU Local 10
27 Jan 2000
Mr. Kenneth Riley Jr., President
ILA Local 1422
727 King Street
Charleston, South Carolina 29403
Dear Brother Riley and ILA Local 1422 members,
We’ve read about your valiant efforts to defend your union and your jobs from incursions by the non-union Winyah Stevedoring company. Your stand, in the face of police provocation, was inspiring to us longshoremen on the West Coast who will be facing the same problem.
Last month, in Seattle ILWU locals and other AFL-CIO unions vigorously protested against the World Trade Organization, whose policies encourage privatization and unionbusting..... exactly what you’re confronted with in Charleston today – a Danish shipowner and a private American stevedoring company conspiring to destroy ILA Local 1422. If these unionbusting outfits are allowed to proliferate they will destroy the decent working conditions and benefits that organized labor has built, through sweat and blood, over the years. And they will use so-called “Right to Work” laws to do it.
The lesson of the bold Liverpool dockers’ struggle is clear: longshore unions on both coasts and internationally must be vigilant and supportive of each other in the struggle against these anti-labor threats. We will demand the immediate release of the 8 jailed longshoremen and an end to police brutality with the use of concussion grenades, batons, police cars and helicopters – -all in an effort to stop longshoremen from defending their jobs. Please let us know if we can support your struggle further. As we say in the ILWU “An injury to one is an injury to all.”
In solidarity,
Lawrence Thibeaux
President
ILWU Local 10
