Labor Conference Calls For Action:
Justice For Mumia Abu-Jamal!

The cause of death-row activist Mumia Abu-Jamal – the “voice of the voiceless” – has been a leading force in exposing the deep-seated racism and unfairness of the death-penalty and criminal injustice system generally, sparking widespread protests in the US and around the world. This cause is of paramount concern to the working class as a whole; and this is shown by rising support for his case within organized labor. Over 100 delegates representing 32 different unions and labor councils came together for a first-ever conference of labor for Mumia in Oakland on May 12, 2000. The conference, which was initiated by the Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal and sponsored by the San Francisco Labor Council, brought together a wide range of rank-and-file activists and union leaders who pledged to continue and broaden this critical fight in the labor movement.

The flyer for the conference indicated the theme: “Mumia is an award winning journalist, author of 3 books and a proud member of the National Writers Union (UAW). When ABC sent Sam Donaldson with a strike breaking ‘20/20‘ crew to interview Mumia, during a recent CWA-NABET strike, Mumia sent them packing. Mumia has stated that he’d rather die than cross a picket line. We, in the organized labor movement must launch a massive campaign to demand justice for this union brother.”

The conference was endorsed by the Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Cruz County and South Bay Central Labor Councils. Attendees came from several maritime unions, including the longshore unions of both east and west coasts; teachers were also heavily represented, as well as communication workers, postal workers & letter carriers, bus drivers. plumbers, the National Writers Union, and 5 locals of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), including California State Employees Association (CSEA / SEIU 1000). (See complete list of unions represented at the conference below. )

Less than two weeks after the conference, the SEIU – the largest union in the US with 1.4 million members – voted without dissent at its national convention in Pittsburgh to demand justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal, in a resolution spearheaded by members of CSEA. The delegates also voted to support a moratorium on the death penalty.

Greetings to the conference were presented by Judy Goff, representing the Alameda County Central Labor Council, and Sal Roselli of SEIU Local 250, which hosted the conference at its Oakland offices. The conference was chaired by Karega Hart, president of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1574 and co-chair of the Black Radical Congress (BRC) in the Bay Area. Gerald Sanders of the Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal presented a brief overview of the case and why labor needs to come to the defense of one of its own. Sanders, an electrician and member of the IBEW, is a former member of the Black Panther Party.

Greetings From Mumia

Greetings to the conference from Mumia were read by Berkeley Federation of Teachers member Tyrrah Alafa Young:

“I thank you, fellow workers, for your impressive support shown this Friday, and your remarkable support demonstrated in the past. Truly it can be said that workers make the world go round, for the labor and toil of working people the world over [feeds the global] economy by actually producing the many and varied products that serve the public needs, public wants and public tastes. The power therefore that labor wields is truly immense, if somewhat latent. I’m therefore quite thrilled to have your support, to have you join us in this titanic struggle with the state to make your presence known on the side of life and liberty. For as we have learned in the recent battle in Seattle and the anti-IMF demonstrations, the rights of workers is also a core human right and an important part of a movement that is reshaping social and power relations. I thank you for being a part of this movement. Ona Move! Long Live John Africa! From Death Row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.”

The conference then heard reports from several sectors of struggle in the labor movement. Leonard Riley, representing longshore workers from International Longshore Association (ILA) Local 1422 in Charleston, S. C. was a part of a delegation that came across the country to be part of this conference. Local 1422, which has been involved in the struggle to remove the confederate flag from the statehouse in South Carolina, recently beat back a union busting attack which included violent police assaults. During the struggle, the local received solidarity delegations and monetary support from the west coast International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). Local 1422 has concluded that the union’s struggle to survive, opposition to the confederate flag, and the continuing struggle of Mumia Abu-Jamal are “all part of the same fight.” Riley also reported that Local 1422 is calling for a national march and rally in Charleston on Labor Day, 2000.

ILWU West Coast Shut-Down

Larry Wright of ILWU Local 10 (San Francisco/Oakland) described the ILWU’s historic action in shutting down all West Coast ports to free Mumia on April 24th 1999. Hundreds of ILWU members turned out to lead the march, organized by the Mobilization to Free Mumia, through San Francisco on the same day. This action was one of many the ILWU has conducted over the years, protesting apartheid in South Africa, the Chilean military coup and other issues, in a tradition of social activism which serves as an inspiration to the whole labor movement.

Bob Mandel of the Oakland Education Association (OEA) reported on another action, one that garnered significant public and media attention: the teach-in on Mumia and the death penalty conducted by OEA teachers in the Oakland Schools early last year. Subsequently teachers in Los Angeles, Chicago and other cities have held similar teach-ins. D’andre Bitter from the East Bay Postal Workers Union (APWU) described developments in his union locally. He also described Morgan for Mumia, a group in the Morgan postal facility in New York that developed a button wearing solidarity campaign that culminated in lunch-room discussions of Mumia’s case and support for the broader campaign.

Al Weinrub, Chairman of the National Writers Union Local 3 (UAW), explained how the writers union locally placed a series of ads in papers throughout the Bay Area, signed by 300 writers in Mumia’s defense, as part of their organizing drive. The Writers Union has also spearheaded a campaign in its parent organization, the UAW, centered in Detroit, to get UAW locals to pass a resolution demanding justice and a new trial. Ralph Schoenman, also of the Writers Union, reported on some of the many international efforts to free Mumia, including the delegation to Washington DC, which met with officials of the Justice Department on January 12, 2000. The delegation, on behalf of the International Committee To Save the Life of Mumia Abu-Jamal, included trade unionists from France, Britain, Spain, Martinique and other countries.

The conference then divided into industry focus groups – including maritime trades, teachers, communications, postal, journalism and service-where lively discussions were held about past actions and future plans for trade-union work in Mumia’s defense. Topics of discussion included forming a Mumia defense group or committee in local unions, inviting guest speakers to discuss the case in union meetings, and getting an article into the union newspaper.

For a Broad Labor Campaign

After the focus groups, the conference reassembled into a plenary session, in which five different resolutions were discussed and passed. (See complete text of resolutions, below. ) The first, titled “For a Broad Labor Campaign to Win Justice for Mumia,” was presented by Randy Christensen, a member of CWA 9415 and head of the planning committee for the conference. It encouraged unionists to undertake a variety of activities, such as adopting Mumia as an honorary union member, hold shop floor discussions, distribute literature, and mount a major media campaign using ads and articles in big-business press and radio and TV as well as union newspapers. Controversy arose over a clause in the resolution calling for the US Justice Department to “launch an official investigation into Mumia’s case.” Some delegates expressed the view that this is tantamount to having the fox “investigate” the raid on the chicken coop. As Mumia pointed out in his greetings to the conference, we are in a “titanic struggle with the state.” This is the same state of which the Justice Department is a part, along with the police, FBI and courts which have persecuted and framed up Mumia and others like him, dating back to the FBI’s “COINTELPRO” persecution of the Black Panther Party, and beyond. Labor Action Committee supporters particularly argued, unsuccessfully, that this clause should be removed.

Bob Mandel then presented a resolution condemning the appointment of Ed Rendell as the General Chair of the Democratic National Committee. Rendell was the Philadelphia District Attorney when Mumia was railroaded, and has continued to play an active role in seeking his execution. Rendell also turned a blind eye to the systematic exclusion of African-Americans for Philadelphia juries, and helped plan and execute the aerial bombing of the MOVE house which resulted in the deaths of 11 people, and the destruction of an entire city block.

Rendell’s ascension to power in the Democratic Party (he also aims to be governor of Pennsylvania) is emblematic of the pro-death penalty racism entrenched at the top of both capitalist parties. Republican front-runner George W Bush may have murdered more people as Texas governor, including the recent execution of Shaka Sankofa (Gary Graham); but Bill Clinton interrupted his presidential campaign in 1992 to preside over the execution of a black inmate in Arkansas who was mentally retarded. Al Gore and governors such as Gray Davis in California are also staunch death-penalty supporters. Without in any way endorsing support for the Democratic Party, the resolution on Rendell was amended to ask unions to call on any of their members who are delegates to the Democratic Party’s August convention in LA to raise motions calling for a new trial for Mumia as well as condemning Rendell’s appointment.

The motion was further amended with a final resolved, “that all locals and union members be urged to join the protests that will be held outside the Democratic Party Convention”. The resolution passed as amended.

For a Nationwide Day of Labor Action for Mumia!

Gerald Sanders presented a resolution on behalf of the Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal that called on the AFL-CIO to act on an earlier resolution in Mumia’s defense which is already before it. This earlier resolution, which came from the San Francisco Labor Council last year, and was tabled to the executive board by the last AFL-CIO convention, calls for an immediate, nationwide day of labor action for justice for Mumia. The LAC resolution also called on the California Federation of Labor (which meets in July in Anaheim), to implement a statewide 2-hour stop-work action for Mumia as part of the nationwide day of action. Finally, the conference resolved “that in the event that execution becomes imminent, we call on the AFL-CIO to organize open-ended strike action, to stop the execution and free Mumia Abu-Jamal.” One delegate wanted to substitute “new trial” instead of “free” Mumia, but, as was pointed out, there is no guarantee that a new trial will ever happen, or, if it does, that it wouldn’t be a repetition of the same frame-up as happened the first time around. (Rubin “Hurricane” Carter did receive a new trial, which turned out to be a farce that re-convicted him. ) The point of this resolution was to call on labor to take action in the event that execution becomes imminent (ie, after the denial of a new trial). The resolution passed as presented.

Two resolutions were then passed in solidarity with the Charleston, South Carolina longshore workers. One called for dropping all charges against the members of Local 1422, some of whom are charged with “inciting to riot,” and could face years in prison for their non-violent efforts on behalf of social justice. Contributions to aid the legal defense of these allies can be sent to: Dock Workers Defense Fund,910 Morrison Dr. , Charleston, SC 29403. The conference also voted “full support and mobilization for the national march and rally in Charleston, South Carolina on Labor Day, September 4, 2000 against the union busting conspiracy against the ILA 1422, the flying of the confederate flag at the South Carolina state capitol and for the defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal.”

Following the plenary, workshops were held by Jericho, Global Exchange & a group from the faith community lead by Father Bill O’Donnell from St. Joseph the Worker Church. These workshops keyed in on areas of related concern & aided the discussion on how we can effectively advance the struggle for justice, as well as the concept of coalition building. The conference wound up in an evening cultural session with singing, poetry and video presentations from local artists and Mumia activists. The next day, conference participants could be found, many marching behind their union banners, in the labor contingent at the head of the march for justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal in San Francisco.

The labor conference for Mumia showed that the labor movement can move toward a more committed solidarity with, and support for not only its own members, but also all the working class and oppressed victims of a criminal justice system which is increasingly corrupt, brutal and unfair. The death penalty takes mostly Black, Latino, other people of color, but it’s victims are universally poor. A system in which you have to be wealthy in order to get justice is clearly a class system, a system which the labor movement has a vital duty to oppose. Mumia’s case stands out as a leading example. By taking up his cause, the labor movement is taking a step toward more conscious, and more thorough-going support for all workers and oppressed victims of the capitalist class system.

Complete text of resolutions passed at the conference: see addendum, below.

Thanks to the following organizations, whose generous donations helped make the conference possible: ILWU Local 10; Mobilization to Free Mumia; Oakland Teachers, AFT 771; San Francisco Labor Council; Santa Cruz County Labor Council; and Union Workers Union, SEIU 715.

The following unions were represented at the conference by rank-and-file members or officials: American Federation of Teachers 771 & 2121; American Association of Graduate Student Employees, (UAW 2165); American Postal Workers Union, E Bay; Amalgamated Transit Union,583 & 1574; Berkeley Federation of Teachers, California Federation of Teachers,4400; California State Employees Association, (SEIU 1000); Communication Workers of America,9119,9410,9415 & No. Cal. Media Workers; Carpenters 713, Graphic Communications Union, International Association of Machinists, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers,595 &1245; Inland Boatmen’s Union, International Federation of Professional & Technical Employees, International Longshore Association,1422; International Longshore & Warehouse Union,6 & 10; International Union of Operating Engineers,39; International Workers of the World, Masters Mates & Pilots, National Association of Letter Carriers,214; National Writers Union,3 & 1981 (UAW); Oakland Education Association, Office & Professional Employees International Union,3; Painters,4; Plumbers & Fitters,393; Service Employees International Union,250,535,715 & 790; Teamsters, United Auto Workers,306; UESF; United Food & Commercial Workers, Union of Professional & Technical Employees,7; and United Steel Workers of America.

The conference was also attended by representatives of the following organizations: American Friends Service Cttee, Berkeley Liberation Radio, Black Radical Congress, Bolshevik Tendency, Cal. Faculty Association, Chomsky Action Project of the Rogue Valley, First Amendment Center, Freedom Socialist Party, Global Exchange, Green Party, International Socialist Organization, Jericho, Labor Party, Labor Video Project, Neptune Jade Cttee, October 22nd Coalition, Open World Conference, Socialist Organizer, Spartacist League, St. Joseph the Worker Church, and Workers To Free Mumia (NY).

This report prepared by: Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Want to work in your union to help save Mumia? Contact us: PO Box 16222 Oakland CA 94610 (510) 763-2347 (415) 282-1908 ckinder@hotmail.com

Addendum: Text of the 5 Resolutions Passed at the Labor For Mumia Conference,12 May 2000:

1. For a Broad Labor Campaign to Win Justice for Mumia

We should constitute ourselves/this conference as the launch pad for a broad labor campaign to defend Mumia called Labor for Mumia. This new formation should be anchored in one or more of the affiliated Central Labor Councils. I volunteer to continue, with your support, coordinating this effort.

We should initiate one or more effort of the following type: - A major media campaign where we would place ads in the press from union papers. on up to major big-business press, such as the recent teacher’s ad in the NY Times. We could and should place articles in the press read by working people regarding this conference, updates in the case, as well as campaigns we decide to launch. We should also consider radio and community TV spots, billboard space, etc.

- Postcard/petition/letter-writing campaign. We could take these to union meetings, eboards, etc. To continue educating and gathering steam. Perhaps official or unofficial communication with Mumia himself - Assist Mumia groups developing in unions. - Encourage the adoption of Mumia as an Honorary union member. - Pass a resolution. - Distribute buttons. bumper stickers. posters & tee shirts, videos, CDs, etc. - Shop floor actions such as lunchroom discussions button wearing campaigns. etc. - Union-initiated Community Speak-outs/Teach-ins. - Create packets for isolated unionists nationally. - Develop a speaker’s bureau.

One focus of this work should be in demanding that the justice department launch an official investigation into Mumia’s case. With 29 constitutional violations. it shouldn’t take 18 years to discover only one, which is grounds to throw the case out. We must expose their inaction which amounts to complicity.

We should plan to take this message back to our unions, other folks and unions, and then plan to meet in 3 weeks, June 4 - 6PM at HERE 2850 next door.

We should undertake a major mailing, outlining today’s proceedings, in concert with all affiliated Councils, Unions, Locals & individuals encouraging further united efforts.

This proposal doesn’t pretend to exhaust the possibilities of what we might do. Rather. it suggests’ that we undertake a broadly focussed campaign to effectively engage the immense power of the organized labor movement to win justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Any thing less is unacceptable.

2. Resolution on Ed Rendell

WHEREAS Ed Rendell has been appointed the chairman of the Democratic National Committee and will play a leading role in the Democratic convention in LA in August 2000, and

WHEREAS Ed Rendell was the Philadelphia District Attorney when Mumia was railroaded and has continued to play an active role in seeking his execution, most recently by having a member of his staff plant a false story about Mumia “confessing” in Vanity Fair magazine, and

WHEREAS Ed Rendell as DA also turned a blind-eye to the systematic exclusion of African-Americans from Philadelphia juries and helped plan and execute the aerial bombing of the MOVE house which resulted in the death of 11 people including women and children, and the burning of an entire Philadelphia city block, and

WHEREAS Rendell’s ascension to power directly threatens Mumia’s life and is strongly reminiscent of the dominant role of Dixiecrat segregationists in the Democratic Party for decades prior to the Civil Rights movement and the historic Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party challenge at the Democratic convention in 1964,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that this conference condemns Rendell’s appointment, and

FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED that delegates to this conference will take this motion back to their respective locals and internationals for discussion and approval, and

FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED that all locals are urged to call on any of their members who are delegates to the Democratic National Convention to raise motions at the convention calling for a new trial for Mumia and condemning Rendell’s appointment,

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that all locals and union members be urged to join the protests that will be held outside the Democratic Party Convention.

3. Resolution on State and National Labor Action for Justice for Mumia

WHEREAS, Mumia Abu-Jamal-known as “the voice of the voiceless”-is an award-winning African-American journalist, who campaigned against police abuses and who, with no previous criminal record, has been on Pennsylvania’s death row since 1981, convicted of shooting a police officer despite compelling evidence of his innocence and of gross misconduct on the part of the police, prosecutor and judge; and

WHEREAS, Mumia still faces imminent execution if Federal District Court Justice William Yohn refuses to hear evidence on 29 charges of Constitutional violations, even while unheard evidence and new evidence clearly shows corrupted witnesses, false “confession” and other prosecutorial misconduct; and

WHEREAS, Mumia, a member of the Writers Union (UAW), despite his life and death need to put his case before the public, showed courageous solidarity with locked out NABET/CWA workers by his refusal to be interviewed by a scab ABC television crew in 1989, and

WHEREAS, Mumia’s struggle for justice has been supported by an historic West-Coast shutdown of the docks on April 24th 1999 by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, as well as by resolutions, demonstrations, teach-ins and other actions by hundreds of national and local unions and labor councils, in the US and throughout the world; and

WHEREAS, Mumia Abu-Jamal’s struggle for justice is also supported by Amnesty International, the European Parliament and the A Philip Randolph Institute, as well as by such figures as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King III, Alice Walker, Maya Angelou and many, many others who seek justice and human rights; and

WHEREAS, The AFL-CIO Executive Board has a resolution referred to it from the 1999 AFL-CIO convention, adopted by the San Francisco Labor Council, calling for “a nationwide day of labor action to free Mumia Abu-Jamal;” and San Francisco Labor Council Secretary-Treasurer Walter Johnson called for a 2-hour national AFL-CIO work stoppage for Mumia at the April 24th 1999 rally in San Francisco, and

WHEREAS, It has always been a principle of organized labor to stand up against injustice and oppression, and such labor action is a vital component of Mumia’s defense against persecution by a corrupt criminal justice system,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that this Labor for Mumia conference calls on the AFL-CIO to act on the resolution before it, and organize an immediate nationwide day of labor action for justice for Mumia; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, As part of the nationwide day of action, we call on the California Federation of Labor to implement a statewide 2-hour stop-work action for Mumia, and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that in the event that execution becomes imminent, we call on the AFL-CIO to organize open-ended strike action, to stop the execution and free Mumia Abu-Jamal.

-submitted by the Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal

4. Resolution On ILA, Mumia & Right To Organize

Whereas, the right to organize is critically connected to the fight to defend Mumia Abu-Jamal and,

Whereas the AFL-CIO has called for a national week of events around the right to organize from June 10-June 17 and,

Whereas, as the Charleston ILA Longshoremen have called for an international protest against union-busting and the display of the Confederate Flag on Charleston, South Carolina on September 4, 2000,

Therefore, be it resolved that this National Labor Conference for Mumia Abu-Jamal calls for bringing Charleston ILA Longshoremen to labor hearings and rallies during the national AFL-CIO Right To Organize Week and,

Be it further resolved that we seek to include the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal in this week and his right to organize and finally,

This conference calls for full support and mobilization for the national march and rally in Charleston, South Carolina on Labor Day, September 4, 2000 against the union-busting conspiracy against the ILA 1422, the flying of the confederate flag at the South Carolina state capitol and for the defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal.

5. Solidarity with Charleston Longshore Workers

The Labor Conference for Mumia calls upon unions and allies to speak up in solidarity with the workers of the WA in South Carolina who are being unfairly prosecuted for exercising their right to organize and their right to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

We request for people to write letters to the State Attorney General of South Carolina, Charlie Condon, calling for the dropping of all charges against members of the WA who were engaged in acts of protest.

We also call upon individuals and unions to send contributions to the Dock Workers Defense Fund,910 Morrison Dr. Charleston, SC 29403, to help defray legal costs of our allies in this struggle. The Charleston local of the ILA has been active in the efforts on behalf of political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal, and efforts to bring down the Confederate flag from the statehouse. As they are struggling against racism and oppression, we must ensure that they are not made into political prisoners as well. They have been accused of “inciting a riot” and could face years of imprisonment for their nonviolent efforts on behalf of social justice.

An injury to one is an injury to all. We stand united. Drop the charges now!

For more information, contact Robert Ford, Vice President, WA Local 1422 910 Morrison Dr. , Charleston, SC 29403 (843)-720-73 65 fordr@awod.com