Some 10,000 labor activists and youth from across the country gathered in Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, on June 9th to demand the immediate release of the Charleston 5.
All five are union members that have been under house arrest since January 2000 on felony charges of inciting a riot. They face up to five years in jail.
Four of the five are members of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) Local 1422, and the fifth is a member of the Checkers and Clerks Local 1771. ILA Local 1422 in Charleston, South Carolina, is 99 percent African-American.
It began in October of 1999, when the Danish shipping company, Nordana, decided to terminate its 23-year relationship with the ILA in favor of using non-union labor to unload their ships' cargo. Although the union offered Nordana a deal that would reduce labor costs by 50 percent, Nordana stated that it had no intentions of altering its plans.
In January 2000, 150 union members held an informational picket at the Port of Charleston. Nordana sent 20 scabs across the picket line to load their ships. In order to ensure that the union could not stand in the way of the company's plans, 600 police officers clad in riot gear arrived by helicopter, boat, horseback and armored car.
What ensued can only be described as a police riot, as police charged the peaceful picketers. Ken Riley, president of the local, was viciously beaten across the head, and nine picketers were arrested.
Although the initial charges of trespassing were dropped, South Carolina Attorney General Charlie Condon seized upon the opportunity to advance his own political career by promising to give the imprisoned dockworkers "jail, jail and more jail." Condon, who headed up Bush's campaign in South Carolina, is planning to run for governor.
The rally in Columbia kicked off around noon, drawing attendees from all over the country. The West Coast-based longshore union, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, was out in full force, including a special drill team that led the march. Several members of ILA Local 1575, including President Paul Garcia, had come all the way from Puerto Rico to show their solidarity.
Teams from the youth-labor program, Union Summer, mobilized union and community support for the march. The youth of America introduced a petition to not only free the Charleston 5 and ensure workers have the democratic right to unionize. Before the march kicked off, a member of the Cherokee Nation blessed the contingent in his native language. He then highlighted the special oppression that his people have experienced and continue to experience under the racist and anti-worker policies of South Carolina.
The march then culminated on the lawn of the State House, which was the location of the recent battle to remove the Confederate flag that flew above it. Local 1422 members were at the forefront of this struggle, and it is no coincidence that they are now being targeted by the most vicious and reactionary anti-labor forces.
In front of the State House, people gathered to hear speakers denounce the racist and anti-labor policies of South Carolina. The president of the Swedish Dockworker's Union, Bjorn Borg, stated that Spanish dockworkers refused to unload ships that had been loaded in Charleston with scab labor. Kwang-Jun Yu, a South Korean autoworker, spoke on behalf of the workers at Daewoo Motors.
Winning freedom for the Charleston 5 is just the first step in a series of actions that need to be taken in order to ensure workers' rights in the southern states. Currently, only 3.8 percent of South Carolina's workforce is organized, the lowest rate of any state. Although later dropped, the suit could set a precedent for union-busting through litigation in the future.
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Dynamic Magazine
