The following resolution passed at the San Francisco ILWU Local 10 Executive Board meeting February 8, 2000.
Whereas, in January, hundreds of longshoremen in the port of Charleston, South Carolina courageously protested against the scab Winyah Stevedoring operation, and
Whereas, this new non-union operation was set up in collusion with the Danish shipping line, Nordana, and the South Carolina States Port Authority, and
Whereas, 600 cops from throughout the state were called in to suppress ILA Local 1422 members from rightfully defending their union and their jobs, and
Whereas, 10 were injured and 9 longshoremen arrested by the police using concussion grenades, helicopters, tear gas, shotguns and night sticks, and
Whereas, this blatant attack against union longshoremen poses a threat to organized dockworkers around the world,
Therefore we call on our fraternal affiliates in the International Dockworkers Council and the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) to join the ILWU through international labor solidarity actions to:
1) demand that the fraudulent charges against the 9 longshoremen for “inciting to riot” be dropped and
2) send a message to Nordana Shipping Lines and international shipping alliances that waterfront union-busting will not go unchallenged.
