http://www.charleston.net/pub/news/state/logshr0610.htm
More than 4,000 march in support of arrested Charleston union workers
COLUMBIA - Chanting “Free the Charleston Five! Free the Charleston Five!” several thousand dockworkers and union activists from across the country converged on the Statehouse for a spirited rally to support five longshoremen arrested in last year’s waterfront rumble.
National labor leaders said they were willing to go to jail to support the five dockworkers. A Korean union leader pledged his solidarity, and another from Sweden suggested that if the five are brought to trial, longshoremen at ports around the world would take action. At one point the crowd, chanted “Shut the port down! Shut the port down!”
Noting that the majority of International Longshoremen’s Association members in Charleston are black, many speakers railed against racial injustice.
Motioning toward the Confederate flag flying lifelessly in the muggy afternoon heat, Nelson Rivers III, NAACP regional director, told the crowd, “South Carolina has the mind of the Confederacy. It is the home of the Confederacy, and Charlie Condon is a lieutenant in the Confederacy.”
Speaker after speaker derided Condon, the state’s attorney general. One speaker called him “a little runt.” Several noted that Condon is running for governor and said the prosecutions were designed to boost his political stature in a state known for its strong anti-union laws. Several protesters carried signs saying “Charlie Condon - Anything for a Headline.” Crowd estimates ranged from 4,000 to 7,000.
Condon said he wasn’t impressed with the gathering. “I’m not going to drop charges because of a rally by some labor union.” He said the longshoremen were arrested in connection with a “brutal mob riot” in which protesters attacked police.
If the charges were dropped, he said, “What kind of message does that send? This is about the rule of law and not men.” The five are scheduled to be put on trial sometime in September, he said.
Union members from across the nation arrived in Columbia early Saturday for a march from Memorial Park to the Statehouse rally.
Many, like Lew Moye, president of the St. Louis Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, came by bus. In his case, it was a 13-hour, all-night trip. “But we hope our presence will convince the attorney general that those brothers should be free. We see this as a threat to union activity everywhere, including St. Louis.”
One of the most notable aspects of Saturday’s rally was the attention it received from high-level labor leaders. Referring to Condon, Linda Chavez-Thompson, a top AFL-CIO official, shouted, “The message we want to send to the nation and the world is that we know what he’s up to.”
John Bowers, national president of the International Longshoremen’s Association, said in his thick New York accent, “If the Charleston five go to court, I’m marching in with them.”
Cecil Roberts of the United Mine Workers nearly lost his voice as he shouted, “Back in West Virginia, we have a saying: Don’t kick the bear when it’s asleep. Well, Charlie, you kicked the bear.”
Organizers of the rally took pains to focus on the five who have been charged. Because they are under house arrest, none were on hand, but demonstrators held poster-sized photographs of the men during the speeches.
Family members spoke briefly. Ashley Ford,13, said her father, Elijah Ford, hasn’t been able to attend PTA meetings, watch her cheer at basketball games or attend the father-daughter ball. Franklin Washington said his father, Peter, wasn’t able to attend his grandmother’s memorial service.
Other family members tearfully thanked the crowd for its help.
In an interview before the rally, Kenneth Riley Jr. , president of ILA Local 1422, said his goal is to “personalize the union. These people aren’t foreign. They live right next door to you, go to the same bank as you. They go to church and pay taxes.”
By turning the five into potential martyrs, the ILA has raised the ante for both the union and Condon.
“Am I afraid of turning Condon into a hero? No, absolutely not,” Riley said. “What he’s doing is waking up the workers.”
During the rally, organizers talked about an “international day of solidarity” on the first day of trial, and anxiety levels on Charleston’s waterfront are expected to rise as the trial date approaches. Some maritime officials talk privately about what might happen if the men are convicted.
Riley doesn’t mind fueling such apprehension. “If they’re feeling pressure, then they should apply it to Charlie Condon. We’ve settled our business with Nordana, and everyone is working well together. We’re setting new productivity records. But Condon’s running for governor and on his political soapbox.”
Riley predicted that slowdowns might take place in countries where that kind of thing is legal, but “we can’t engage in that kind of stuff.”
The crisis began in late 1999 when a Danish ocean carrier, Nordana Line, decided to use cheaper non-union dockworkers instead of longshoremen from the ILA.
Longshoremen held several peaceful protests, but tensions grew every time another Nordana vessel arrived. During one visit, longshoremen roughed up several non-union dockworkers who were forced to flee to the safety of the ship. Equipment was vandalized, and when a Nordana vessel arrived in mid-January 2000, authorities dispatched about 600 law enforcement officers from across the state to stand guard at the State Ports Authority’s Columbus Street Terminal.
According to eyewitness accounts by Post and Courier, several hundred white and black ILA members marched from their union hall just after midnight Jan.20,2000 toward a line of several hundred police officers.
Many of the dockworkers were carrying signs, sticks and bottles and shouting obscenities. Longshormen charged into the police line but were held back. Soon, many were throwing rocks, bricks and other debris. Dockworkers assaulted reporters and turned over a television truck. Police clubbed several protesters, and several dockworkers did the same to police.
After about a half-hour, police fired tear gas and used guns firing bean-bag-like projectiles to move the dockworkers back to their union hall. More than 10 people were injured. Charleston police arrested nine people on misdemeanor charges. Those charges were dropped when longshoremen agreed to do community service projects.
During Saturday’s rally, several speakers said the melee happened when police attacked “peaceful picket line.”
Riley said the union is not trying to rewrite history. “The protest didn’t begin that night. It began in November.” He said that union members felt provoked by the massive show of force. “We didn’t have any problem until there were 600 police down there.” In a sense, the Nordana crisis propelled Riley onto the world stage, at least in international labor circles.
Nordana eventually decided to return to the union fold, and that move was largely viewed as a victory for the ILA. Riley has taken his case to labor-friendly groups across the world.
Los Angeles and San Francisco have been favorite destinations, and he has developed strong ties with the International Longshoreman and Warehouse Union, a separate dockworkers union on the West Coast. Riley said he has raised “well over” $250,000 for a legal defense fund.
“I cannot afford to rest until every one of these guys is exonerated.”
