Several ILWU members have expressed the right sentiments about defending the Charleston 5. Some have even called for a general strike of all unions to defend the right to picket. If we organize our base, the longshore division, it’s possible to bring other unions along with us, first maritime unions, then others. At our March Caucus we passed a resolution on Charleston calling for an international day of action on the first day of the trial, which looks like November now. All longshoremen on the Coast will be protesting that day, not working. That was the heart of the motion.
At the Caucus we even got commitments from ILA ports in the Gulf and South Atlantic to join us in these protest actions. Ken Riley has been pressing ILA President John Bowers to support demonstrations by longshoremen that day in his Atlantic Coast District, covering Maine to North Carolina. While Bowers has been silent on this so far, there already exists sentiment in some of those ports to join with us. If he agrees to honor Riley’s request, it would mean the first ever solid nationwide longshore workers’ solidarity action. And it couldn’t happen at a better time with attacks from employers globally and our contracts around the bend.
The International Dockworkers Council (IDC), which grew out of the militant Liverpool dockers’ struggle, has already agreed to participate in an international day of action for the Charleston longshoremen. The larger, but more conservative International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) is waiting for Bowers to ask for their support. The critical test for Riley’s European trip will be to see if the ITF-affiliated unions will agree to participate in the international day of action (IDA).
For us in the ILWU, the important task is to build up our Charleston defense committees and get the word out to our members in longshore and the other divisions of our union about the international day of action. Also delegates to Labor Councils can pass resolutions supporting the international day of action. This has already been done at the San Francisco and Alameda County Labor Councils. Anyone interested in a copy of those resolutions to use at their labor council can email me.
Can we do it? Yes, if we organize it member by member, port by port, union by union.
Jack
