Transport Workers Solidarity Committee

SFLC Resolution in Commemoration of the 10-Year Anniversary of the Charleston 5 and in Solidarity with the “Jobs with Rights Now” Campaign in the South

http://www.sflaborcouncil.org/ViewUpload/492

Resolution in Commemoration of the 10-Year Anniversary of the Charleston 5 and in Solidarity
with the “Jobs with Rights Now” Campaign in the South

Whereas, on the night of January 19, 2000, South Carolina law enforcement agencies teamed up to
send a military-style police force of 600 to attack a picket line of longshoremen at the Port of
Charleston who were defending their union jobs against Nordana, a Danish shipping firm; and

Whereas, the police brutality against International Longshoremen Association Local 1422, a 98
percent African American local, became a bloody war scene with many workers injured and
hospitalized by police, including Local 1422 president Ken Riley; and

Whereas, living up to the ugly legacy of the Old South, the right wing Republican State Attorney
General Charles Conon, the former chairman of the George W. Bush for President campaign in South
Carolina, turned reality on its head and charged five longshoremen, four Black and one white, with
conspiracy to riot felonies; and

Whereas, a global and national solidarity movement to Free the Charleston 5 arose in response and
became one of the most significant victories of our time; and

Whereas, Charleston International Longshoremen’s Association Locals, the South Carolina AFL-CIO
and the Charleston Central Labor Council are commemorating and celebrating the 10-year
anniversary of this victory on February 25 – 26, 2010 in Charleston, South Carolina; and

Whereas, this event will bring together leaders and activists who guaranteed the victory, including
dockworkers from around the world, the West Coast International Longshore and Warehouse Union
and the national AFL-CIO; and

Whereas, at this event the South Carolina AFL-CIO, Charleston Central Labor Council and ILA Local
1422 will unveil the “Jobs with Rights Now” campaign that aims to unite labor in the South with all its
allies to organize workers into unions and defend their rights on the job to living wages with good
benefits, including winning support in the South for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act and the
AFL-CIO’s 5-Point Plan to create and save jobs; and

Whereas, this campaign will fight the dangerous anti-worker corporate drive that views the South as
the weak link where low wages and benefits will increase their profit margin and as a result, similar to
Third World nations, the South has become a corporate location of choice; and

Whereas, while high levels of unemployment make new jobs a necessity in the South, new jobs
without unions is a road to economic disaster with a clear national impact on the standard of living in
the world,

Therefore Be It Resolved that the San Francisco Labor Council extends its congratulations and
appreciation to the Charleston 5, the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1422, the South
Carolina AFL-CIO, the Charleston Central Labor Council, other Charleston ILA Locals and all the
participants in the Charleston 5 movement on the occasion of the 10-year anniversary of this historic
victory that serves as a model for all who seek economic and social justice in our nation, and

Be It Finally Resolved that the San Francisco Labor Council extends its solidarity to the “Jobs with Rights Now”
campaign to organize and defend workers in the South, an effort that will resonate across America and impact all
workers and their families.

Submitted by Brother Marcus Holder, ILWU 10, and unanimously adopted by the San Francisco Labor Council on
February 8, 2010.

Respectfully,

Tim Paulson
Executive Director

OPEIU 3 AFL-CIO 11