Defend
the Charleston Longshore Union: resolution
passed at the San Francisco ILWU Local 10 Executive Board meeting February 8,
2000.
Mr. Kenneth Riley Jr., President
ILA Local 1422
727 King Street
Charleston, South Carolina 29403
Dear Brother Riley and ILA Local 1422 members,
We¹ve read about your valiant efforts to defend your union and your jobs
from incursions by the non-union Winyah Stevedoring company. Your stand,
in the face of police provocation, was inspiring to us longshoremen on the West
Coast who will be facing the same problem.
Last month, in Seattle ILWU locals and other AFL-CIO unions vigorously
protested against the World Trade Organization, whose policies encourage
privatization and unionbusting..... exactly what you¹re confronted with in
Charleston today--a Danish shipowner and a private American stevedoring company
conspiring to destroy ILA Local 1422. If these unionbusting outfits are
allowed to proliferate they will destroy the decent working conditions and
benefits that organized labor has built, through sweat and blood, over the
years. And they will use so-called ³Right to Work² laws to do it.
The lesson of the bold Liverpool dockers¹ struggle is clear: longshore
unions on both coasts and internationally must be vigilant and supportive of
each other in the struggle against these anti-labor threats. We will
demand the immediate release of the 8 jailed longshoremen and an end to police
brutality with the use of concussion grenades, batons, police cars and
helicopters---all in an effort to stop longshoremen from defending their jobs.
Please let us know if we can support your struggle further. As we say in
the ILWU ³An injury to one is an injury to all.²
In solidarity,
Lawrence Thibeaux
President
ILWU Local 10