------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the June 7, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- CHARLESTON 5: LETTER REACHES OUT FOR LABOR/COMMUNITY SUPPORT [ILA Local 1422 President Ken Riley was in New York May 21-24 to gather labor and community support for the struggle to free the Charleston 5, whose struggle is described in the letter below. There are no borders in the workers struggle to combat the assaults of U.S. trans national corporations. This is the essence of international solidarity in the epic of globalization. Mega-merger corporations, their subsidiaries and subcontractors crisscross the globe, exploiting workers under the most extreme and life-threatening conditions and extracting from them billions of dollars in profits daily. The organized labor movement, here and abroad, has shown signs of fighting back. From Spanish trade unionists to the Canadian labor movement to the AFL-CIO, the struggle in South Carolina by ILA Local 1422 has been a wakeup call. The anti-globalization and anti-sweatshop movements are natural allies to the struggle of ILA 1422. The signers of the following letter have been in close contact with Riley. Johnnie Stevens of the International Action Center/Labor Community Outreach told Workers World the signers have assisted Riley in contacting unions in New York City and have begun a campaign to reach out to the Harlem community, to dock workers in Newark and Port Elizabeth, N.J., and community organizations in Brooklyn with leaflets and posters.] Dear friend, The International Action Center/Labor Community Outreach wants to bring to your attention the plight of a small union, predominately African American, under siege in Charleston, S. C. On January 20, 2000, the state of South Carolina sent in 600 riot-equipped cops to break up a peaceful picket line organized by the International Longshore Association Locals 1422 and 1771. The workers were brutally beaten and arrested. Five members were charged with "inciting to riot"-- felony charges. They are under house arrest with possible five-year prison terms looming over them. A Danish shipping company conspired to bring in scabs illegally and violated union contracts in force for 20 years. The sub-contractor that supplied the scab workforce has sued the ILA locals' presidents and 27 individual members for $1.5 million. Local 1422 is predominately African American. Their members have been relentlessly subjected to anti-union attacks by this "right to work" state. South Carolina has the lowest rate of unionization (3.8 percent) in the country. The vicious "right to work" laws pits the unions and their communities against an increasingly racist legislative assault and a contaminated judicial system. This racist system allows the state to wage open warfare on pregnant women, particularly African American and poor women. Regina McKnight was one of its victims. Allegedly a substance abuser, she was convicted in 15 minutes and sentenced to 12 years in prison when her infant was stillborn. The pro-choice, abortion rights movement is confronted by the same enemy in South Carolina that has framed the Charleston 5 to break their union. The racist, anti-union drive in Charles ton has great national and international significance in the struggle against the U.S. drive to dominate and exploit the global markets. From Maine to Texas, New Orleans, and in between, corporate USA has tremendously accelerated the volume of commodities and services shipped in and out. Due to the North American Free Trade Agreement and numerous other U.S. global agreements, dock workers are victims of speed up, high-tech machinery, layoffs, safety violations, downsizing and subcontracting. Wall Street is determined to wipe out union-scale wages and working conditions, and housebreak the unions that move the goods from ship to shore. Local 1422, President Ken Riley, the AFL-CIO and affiliates, and communities are fighting back. This movement is a strategic force bonded and inextricably linked to the anti- globalization and anti-sweatshop struggles that have attracted militant youth from Seattle to Quebec. These fighters against the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank--the institutions that insure the capital used to exploit the poor developing countries with the goal of exorbitant profits--are the natural allies of ILA Local 1422. They can identify the treatment of the ILA workers with the brutality they received from the cops and courts. Mumia Abu-Jamal, noted African American journalist imprisoned on death row by a racist criminal injustice system, eloquently framed the connection: " This anti- globalist fervor showed the common interests of students, of anti-imperialists, of human rights activists, and labor." Johnnie Stevens, Labor/Community Coordinator Anne Pruden, 1199 SEIU Henri Nereaux, VP Masters, Mates & Pilots, retired Marie Jay, Workfairness JOIN THE MARCH SATURDAY, JUNE 9 COLUMBIA , S.C,. MARCH: 11 a.m. Memorial Park, Gadsden St. & Hampton St. RALLY: 12 noon South Carolina State House, Gervais & Main St. For bus and other information: Campaign for Workers' Rights (888) 716-7362 South Carolina AFL-CIO (803) 798-8300 International Action Center Labor/Community Outreach 39 W. 14 St., #206, NY, NY, 10011 Phone (212) 633-6646 Fax (212) 633-2889 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web www.iacenter org/labor.htm A contingent is planned for the march and rally Free the Charleston 5 Free Mumia Fight racism & union-busting Organize the power of mass mobilization to unionize here and abroad Stop U.S. global domination - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
