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International Longshoremen's and
Warehousemen's Union
Local 10,
400 North Point
San Francisco, CA 94133
February 4, 2000
Charles Condon
State Attorney General
P.O. Box 11549
Columbia, S. C. 29211
fax 803-734-4323
Dear Sir:
Union longshore workers in the port of
Charleston, many of them African-American, demonstrated against Winyah
Stevedoring's non-union operation during the week of Martin Luther
King, Jr.'s birthday. These longshoremen were attempting to defend
their jobs and living standard very much like the Memphis sanitation
workers 30 years ago when Martin Luther King was assassinated. Yet,
their rights were suppressed by some 600 police summoned from around the
state of South Carolina who systematically used concussion grenades,
helicopters, tear gas, shotgun blasts and night sticks against the
protestors.
Horrifying photographs in the news media
and on the internet show police attacking picketing longshoremen. These
images burn deeply in the hearts of those who cry out for justice.
Despite the fact that South Carolina is a
so-called "right-to-work" state, the right to protest presumably
is still constitutionally protected under the U.S. Bill of Rights as
well as federal labor law. Our union, Local 10 of the
International Longshore and Warehouse Union, strongly condemns the abuse
of state power in denying workers their rights. We find it
unconscionable that the charges against the eight longshoremen arrested
for trespassing have been elevated to inciting to riot. Furthermore,
you have issued an injunction against International Longshoremen's
Association Local 1422 limiting picket rights.
In this global economy under the rubric of
"free trade", capital eviscerates the fundamental rights of
labor. We can understand the justifiable anger of workers who see
decent jobs being stolen from them by an unholy alliance of a local
non-union stevedore company, a Norwegian shipowner and the State Ports
Authority. As the state government is complicit in this anti-union
cabal, it is necessary for workers internationally to demonstrate
solidarity with the oppressed Charleston, South Carolina longshoremen.
What hypocrisy for a government to
proclaim freedom, yet deny it to its own people while simultaneously
flying the battle flag of the Confederacy, the symbol of slavery! We
demand you drop the charges against the arrested longshoremen and
withdraw your injunction! Victory to the Charleston longshoremen!
Sincerely,
Lawrence Thibeaux
President
ILWU Local 10
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