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The
Green Party of New Jersey |
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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June
13, 2001
Contact: Rena Amada, Press
Relations, Green Party of NJ Joe Fortunato,
Chair, Green Party of NJ Jane Hunter,
Communications Committee, Green Party of NJ Nancy Allen, Media
Coordinator, Association of State Green Parties Scott McLarty,
Media Coordinator, Association of State Green Parties |
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Union-busting tactics, a military-style police
assault, and trumped-up charges used to suppress African
American dockworkers in South Carolina The Charleston 5 are members of the ILA Locals 1422, which is 99% African American, and 1771 who face charges of felony assault and imprisonment for up to five years, after the state of South Carolina unleashed a police assault on dockworkers picketing to oppose scab labor in Charleston. Nordana Lines, a shipping company, announced on October 1, 1999 that it would convert to non-union labor on ships in Charleston, after 23 years of using ILA workers. The union responded with picket lines. The state sent about 600 riot-equipped police in armored vehicles, on horseback, and in helicopters and patrol boats, and commenced a violent assault on the picketers. Five workers now face charges of "inciting to riot" and are under house arrest. According to Frances M. Beal of BRC, "In the
case of these dockworkers, the State of South Carolina is going
even further to rein in black political power.
There is state legislation pending to inhibit the right
of unions to The police assault displayed military tactics, in which urban police forces were trained on order from President Clinton in the mid-90s. The same tactics were used to suppress dissent in Seattle in 1999 at the WTO protests, in 2000 in Washington, DC at the World Bank/IMF protests, and in Philadelphia and Los Angeles during the Republican and Democratic Party conventions. Nordana Lines later negotiated an agreement with ILA, but WSI, the company that hired the nonunion workers, has continued its lawsuit against the two union locals and their presidents. According to BRC, "the police arrested eight longshore workers on charges of misdemeanor trespassing. At this point State Attorney General Charlie Condon rushed in, took the case away from local law enforcement officials, and raised the misdemeanor charges to felony rioting charges. At a preliminary hearing a judge dismissed the felony charges for lack of evidence, but Condon then went to the Grand Jury and sought and obtained indictments against five of the defendants, on the same charges that had just been dismissed." BRC also documents how state officials used the
assault against the dockworkers' union to suppress political
participation by black working people, quoting Ken Riley,
president of Local 1422: "These longshore jobs are Mr. Riley himself had been nominated to the State
Ports Authority, but the South Carolina Manufacturing Alliance
and the state Chamber of Commerce pressured the governor into
withdrawing his name. BRC
notes "Republican state legislators then introduced a bill
-- dubbed the Kenneth Riley Bill -- prohibiting union members
from serving on state boards and commissions. Its proponents
touted it as a way to reduce union influence in state politics
-- in a state where only 3.8 percent of the workers are in
unions. The bill
passed the House, but was killed in the state Senate." "We demand that the suit brought by Winyah Stevedoring Inc. (WSI), the company that hired the nonunion workers, against the two union locals and their presidents be dropped or dismissed. "We demand that the state of South Carolina not support plans by WSI, Nordana, or any other company to break the power of the ILA or any other union, and that it cease using police power to suppress union protest. "We support the right of workers to organize and bargain with employers, to protest peacefully against unfair practices, full rights to political participation, and the right to a decent standard of living for African Americans, for other people of color, and for all working people and poor people in South Carolina and throughout the U.S. "We endorse the announced march on Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, on June 9 to demand that the state drop the criminal charges against the Charleston 5 and that WSI drop the civil lawsuit against both locals and their members, and we endorse the call by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union for a day of solidarity with the Charleston 5." MORE
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