Dear Seattle City Council,

Going into the week of events around the World Trade Organization's meeting, the City of Seattle made several gestures welcoming labor's demonstrations and the free speech of other protesters. The ILWU and labor in general felt legitimized and part of a democratic process.

But early in the morning of Tuesday, November 30, hours before a handful of agitators started smashing windows, police began tear-gassing demonstrators. Police tactics escalated from there.

Unionists, environmentalists and other social justice activists engaging in nonviolent, Constitutionally-protected expressions of opposition were treated by law enforcement personnel as if they were in a police state. 

The indiscriminate use of tear gas rubber bullets, arrests and other excessive force were unconscionable. The imposition of the curfew and the no-protest zone, the inhumane treatment of those arrested and the assault on the Capitol Hill neighborhood were outrageous violations of people's Constitutional rights.

This systematic suspension of the protesters' Constitutional rights continued at the same time the WTO ministers in the Convention Center were perpetrating violent acts against workers and the environment everywhere.

The ILWU hopes city officials will investigate all the allegations of governmental overreaction and police misconduct and take appropriate action to right these wrongs.

Sincerely,
Brian McWilliams
International President

ILWU International President Brian McWilliams with Seattle ILWU Auxiliary #3 Leona Cunningham at the Local 19 Dispatch Hall in 1998.