Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 18:43:39 EST Reply-To: H-Net Labor History Discussion List <[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sender: H-Net Labor History Discussion List <[EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "Seth Wigderson, U Maine Augusta" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Being Sued and Naming Names Please reply directly to Albert Lannon in this very important matter. SW - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dear Colleagues: I'm asking you to read this rather long message in hopes that you will then act on it. The Labor Studies Department at Laney College in Oakland is being sued and the coordinator, myself, is being asked to inform on students who participated in legal and peaceful demonstrations. Here's the story: A couple of years ago Laney tried out a Labor Studies class called Organizing Across Borders: Unions in the Global Economy, taught by Ellen Starbird. One of the aims was to introduce students to use of the internet as a means of building global solidarity. This was around the time when the Liverpool dockers were fired and began their strike which has won international support and solidarity actions. The student found that the dockers had no internet connection, so he telephoned them. The result is that when the SS Neptune Jade, loaded by the unionbusters, arrived at the port of Oakland, California on September 28, 1997, there was a picket line there to meet them. There were ongoing demonstrations for several days, and the longshore workers, members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, refused to cross the line. The ship sailed to Vancouver, where workers refused to unload it, and then to Yokohama, where it was again refused. The ship was finally sold to China. Clearly this was an important action, hailed by Rep. Ron Dellums as placing "a square focus on the new economic battle lines in which global corporate alliances seek to use their transnational economic and political power to divide and defeat organized labor and collective bargaining." On the first day of the demonstrations, Sunday, September 28, a Laney College Labor Studies student went to the site for about two hours with the colorful banner of the Laney College Labor Studies Club. The employers, not knowing who was demonstrating, cited "radical militant labor organizations, i.e. the Laney College Labor Studies group and John Doe Organizations 1 - 12" when they went to court seeking an injunction on September 29. They did not get the injunction. They did get a TRO on September 30, citing Laney, the Labor Party, Gold Gate Chapter, the Peace and Freedom Party, and two individuals, picket captain Robert Irminger (a member of the Inland Boatmen's Union) and Jack Heyman, a member of Longshore Local 10's executive board. Despite the fact that the Laney student's participation took place on one occasion, prior to the TRO, the judge left Laney named in the complaint when she made the restraining order permanent. The Peralta Community College District, of which Laney College is part, said that their lawyers would not handle the case as the action was not one endorsed or initiated by their Board of Trustees. It was the Peralta District that was served with the original summons. While taking this "hands-off" position, the administration at Laney issued new rules for all student organizations: no picketing, boycotting or demonstrating in the name of the school, no off-campus activities without the okay of the faculty advisor, and no use of the banner which said "Laney College Labor Studies Club." The Club, in existence about two years as a duly-chartered campus organization, has put on a number of successful campus events, and over-filled two buses for the Farm Workers strawberry march on Watsonville last spring. At that time faculty, students, and administrators, had no problems rallying around the Club's banner. The most recent event featured UNITE V.P. Katie Quan and former prime minister of Haiti Claudette Werleigh, and filled the Laney Theatre. The attorneys for Yusen Terminals, Centennial Stevedoring, and the Pacific Maritime Association are not dropping the issue. They are pursuing a contempt citation against picket captain Irminger, demanding money and the names of everyone who participated in the demos. They are pursuing suits against the ILWU. And they are pursuing their action for damages against the Laney College Labor Studies "group," demanding Club membership lists, minutes of meetings, and that I name everyone I know that was at any of the demonstrations. The demand for interrogatories and production of documents went to the Peralta District Risk Manager who passed them along to me saying "please handle." As of today, I have demanded that the school administration take up the fight on the basis that no instructor should be compelled to inform on students who participated in peaceful, legal demonstrations. No faculty member should be required to name names, to be a stoolpigeon, and the Peralta Community College District has a responsibility to protect both faculty and students in such situations. If part of a college's mission is to prepare students for the real world, then we must, in fact, encourage such participation, especially in a labor studies program. Labor Studies is always a bit of a pain to administrations which are becoming increasingly dependent on corporate largesse and increasingly reflecting corporate ideologies, and we had hoped to avoid this kind of confrontation. But it is here, and I have no intention of finking on my students. Several attornies who teach labor studies have offered to assist, and they are welcome, but I am trying first to see that the administration lives up to their responsibilities. You can help: please send a few words of support for Laney College Labor Studies, for the obligation of the administration to protect faculty and students, for the right of instructors not to inform on their students, for First Amendment rights to peacefully demonstrate, for concern about free speech, academic freedom, and common morality. Send them to: A.J. Harrison, Chancellor Peralta Community College District, 333 East 8th Street, Oakland, CA 94608, and to Earnest Crutchfield, President, Laney College, 900 Fallon Street, Oakland, CA 94607. Copies can be sent to me at the Laney address, or by e-mail. Thanks in advance. Let us fight the good fight together. In Solidarity, Albert Lannon, Chair Laney College Labor Studies Department From: ALBERT LANNON <[EMAIL PROTECTED] ===================================================== ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ NOTE: On November 18th, Robert Irminger appeared in court to defend himself against allegations by the PMA, representing the shipping company that was picketed, that he violated terms of the TRO referred to above. Prior to the hearing, Robert was joined by a large rally of supporters, including the Secretary-Treasurers of both the Alameda and San Francisco Labor Councils. Several hours of informal negotiations between the PMA, the judge, and Robert's attorney failed to produce a satisfactory compromise settlement. A hearing was conducted in the afternoon. The judge took the matter under submission and will likely issue a decision shortly. If adverse, Robert has pledged to appeal. A defense committee is being established to defend the right to peacefully picket in support of workers around the world and to defend the right of workers to express their solidarity with others in struggle. The employers appear to be intent on punishing all those they can identify who participated in this action as an example to others of what will happen if they attempt similar actions. If allowed to do so, their retaliatory lawsuits will have a chilling effect on free speech and international solidarity. All those involved, however, are determined not to allow the PMA to get away with this intimidation. As part of its legal intimidation tactics, the PMA has demanded that those served with its lawsuit answer a set of "interrogatories" (questions). Failure to fully and honestly answer them could result in further legal action being taken. The interrogatories prepared by the PMA come right out of the 1950s. Here are just a few of the questions that the employers demand the demonstrators who have been served answer in preparation for the lawsuit. M.E. "Identify all persons, associations, and organizations known to you who participated in one or more of the dmonstrations at Yusen Terminals, Berth 23, Port of Oakland, at any time between the dates of September 28, 1997 and October 1, 1997, inclusive. "Identify all persons, associations, and organizations known to you who participated in the planning, organizing, or arranging of any of the demonstrations referred to in Special Interrogatory No. 1. "Identify all labor organizations in which you are or have been a member or with which you are or have been in any way affiliated. "Identify all political organizations in which you are or have been a member or with which you are or have been in any way affiliated.... "Identify the person or persons who first communicated to you the idea of holding a demonstration at a Northern California Port with any connection to dockworkers in Liverpool, England. "Identify the person who first communicated to you the idea of holding a demonstration over the cargo, or any portion thereof, on the vessel Neptune Jade. "Identify every person you believe was a member of or in any way affiliated with the Committee for Victory to the Liverpool Dockers prior to October 2, 1997.... "Identify ever person who assisted in preparing or distributing any handbill that was distributed at Yusen Terminals, Berth 23, Port of Oakland, between Setpember 23, 1997 and October 1, 1997, inclusive, including but not limited to, communicating or providing information about the Area Arbitrator, and providing the paper, or the printing or copying services, for the handbills. "Identify your current employer(s). State your current job title(s)." These are but a portion of the questions the employers demand be answered. They might just as easily been lifted from the McCarthy witchhunt or HUAC hearings of the 1950s. For additional information, or to send letters of support and contributions to help with legal fees, contact -- The Liverpool Dockers Victory Defense Committee P.O. Box 2574 Oakland, CA 94614 Please note: The Liverpool Dockers Victory Defense Committee does not represent or speak on behalf of Laney College, or the Laney College Labor Studies Program and Club. Expressions of support and inquiries directed to them should be sent to the address provided by Albert Lannon above.
