Hello Sisters and Brothers:
Last week I posted an e-mail in which suggested we try working toward a Nationwide General Strike in support of the Charleston 5. Now we all know that this will not happen in this period, surely not for 5 longshore workers, 4 of whom are African/American, when we did not have a general strike for the thousands in PATCO (air controllers), and in light of the fact that the “top”, Spinner, Big Bob, et al, are not calling for a shutdown, for reasons of financial liability, surely a call for a General Strike will fall on deaf ears, all the way up to the top of the AFL-CIO.
Now, while I think I understand the reluctance of the officers to call for a shutdown of the coast for reasons of liability, I can’t for the life of me figure out why there is a reluctance, even a resistance, to the idea that we of the ILWU call for coastwide “actions”, other than a shutdown!
I’m speaking here of a call for demonstrations in every port, large and small, that include all the allies we can muster from the labor “movement” and beyond, students, the unemployed, etc. This call could, it seems to me, be made, even in the absence of a committment to shutdown when the trial of the 5 opens. If anyone out there can explain to me why this is not an option for the ILWU, would you please give me a clue as to why it ain’t. . . . . . .
In my estimation, our union is in jeopardy of doing nothing more than giving “lip service” to the cause of local 1422 ILA and the 5 that stand to do prison time, if we do not start, and start now, to build for some sort of ACTION on the opening day of the trial, and not necessarily a shutdown! I only hope that we don’t, in the end, come off as a bunch of “chicken-shit” noise makers that did’nt do more than talk about doing something!
As ever,
Peace through struggle,
Bill Proctor,
Chair,
Local 19 ILWU,
Committee to Defend the Charleston 5
