The campaign for the defense of the Charleston longshore workers is picking up momentum and increased support on the Coast, throughout the country and internationally.
In Northern California the Labor Committee in Defense of the Charleston Longshore Workers, which includes members of ILWU Locals 10, 34, 54 and 6 as well as the San Francisco Region of the IBU, is working with the local chapter of the Black Radical Congress to put on several events. Two educational forums designed to raise public awareness of the issue, one at La Pena Cultural Center in Berkeley on Thursday, Feb. 22 and another at Local 10’s Henry Schmidt Room on Friday, Feb. 23 will include presentations by Charleston ILA Local 1422 President Ken Riley. Another big fundraising dance party will be held at the Local 10 hall on Saturday, Feb. 24.
At their membership meetings Jan.18 both Local 10 and Local 34 voted to donate $2,000 each to the Defense Committee to help it put on these events. The two locals also voted to shut down Bay Area ports on the first day of the Charleston 5’s trial in protest.
Members of the Defense Committee have been taking a resolution in support of the Charleston longshore workers to various Central Labor Councils and union locals in the area as a way to spread the word about the struggle. The resolution has the groups donating to the legal defense fund and writing letters to the South Carolina Attorney General demanding he drop the charges against the five and to the non-union stevedoring company that is suing the Charleston local and 29 of its members for $1.5 million in financial losses to drop its claims. So far the resolution has passed at the San Francisco Labor Council and the Alameda County Central Labor Council and is scheduled to come before the San Mateo Labor Council and the South Bay Labor Council. The California Federation of Labor has endorsed the campaign and is encouraging its affiliates to do the same. The West Coast Maritime Trades Dept. and Plumbers and Fitters Local 323 in San Jose have also passed the resolution and donated to the legal defense fund.
In the Columbia River area Local 40 voted at its membership meeting Jan.10 to support a special stop-work meeting the first day of the Charleston trial. The members of Local 21 in Longview voted to assess themselves $20 per worker per month to donate to the legal defense fund.
“We thought we’d join the fray, we thought we needed to do it,” said Local 21 President Ty Gorton. “Everybody on the Coast should do it.” At its membership meeting Feb. 1 Southern California longshore Local 13 set up a local defense committee and voted to assess itself $10 per member per month for the Charleston legal defense fund. Before the assessment becomes final it still must be passed again at the March membership meeting and then go through a referendum of the members on the April local ballot, but if that is done, the action could net more than $40,000 per month for the defense fund.
The South Carolina AFL-CIO, the group leading the national campaign, reports that several state federations of labor have responded to its call for support for the Charleston longshore workers, including those from Michigan, Kentucky, West Virginia, Massachusetts and Georgia, and have been making contributions to the legal defense fund.
The national AFL-CIO has been assisting in this campaign from the beginning. On Jan.22 President John Sweeney sent out a memo to all the affiliated international unions, state federations and central labor councils calling on them to get involved in the Charleston campaign and donate to the legal defense fund.
ILA Local 1422 President Ken Riley has been traveling the East Coast rallying support from other ILA locals. Local 1694 in Wilmington, Del. held a rally in support of their Charleston brothers and donated to the defense fund. The Delaware AFL-CIO has also joined the campaign. ILA Local 1291 in Philadelphia, Penn. is on board too and working with the Wilmington local to set up a local defense committee.
Savannah ILA Local 1414 is organizing in support of the Charleston longshore workers and its President, Eddie McBride, along with the AFL-CIO’s state director for Georgia and South Carolina Jimmy Hyde, are working with the Georgia state federation of labor to coordinate a statewide union campaign on their behalf. ILA Local 1408 in Jacksonville, Fla. has joined in and its president, Charles Spencer, who is also on the executive of the Florida state federation of labor is taking the campaign statewide.
The South Carolina Progressive Network, composed of 40 grassroots groups in the state, is helping to mobilize and set up local defense committees in Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina. Students at the College of Charleston in the United Citizens Party are holding teach-ins and fundraisers for the longshore workers.
“They’re all fired up and excited about this,” Riley said. He is also scheduled to address the students at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia soon.
Riley will also be flying to Barcelona, Spain to attend the meeting of the International Dockers Council, composed of longshore unions around the world who came together to support the Liverpool Dockers’ struggle. The IDC has already endorsed the campaign, pledging to donate to the defense fund and to take part in the international day of action on the first day of the trial. At the conference representatives from the various longshore unions will start planning their actions.
“This campaign has taken on a whole new life since [AFL-CIO President John] Sweeney and [ILWU International President Jim] Spinosa have come on board,” Riley said. “The letters and contributions to the defense fund are rolling in.”
