A Labor Struggle on the Waterfront: Book Review
By Hoyt N. Wheeler

Reviewed in this article: On the Global Waterfront: The Fight to Free the Charleston 5. By Suzan Erem and E. Paul Durrenberger. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2008. Pp. 240. $17.95 (paper).  ISBN 978-1-58367-163-4.

The late Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Tip O’Neil, once said, “All politics are local.” This book makes the case for the proposition that, today, “All labor disputes are international.” It tells the story of five longshoremen in the port of Charleston, South Carolina, whose arrest in the year 2000 became a global incident.

For many of us in South Carolina, the plight of these five workers - four black, one white – was called to our attention by a mass rally on the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol. It had the mood of a religious revival, with African American preachers and politicians joined by everyone from Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers to longshoremen from Norway and Korea. Although the workers were members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), the East Coast longshoremen, the most visible group was the militant International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) – the West Coast longshoremen’s union. The story they told was one of a state government’s assault on both blacks and a union – hardly anything new to South Carolina.

Blown Apart by Meddling
These five longshoremen had been arrested based upon their actions in early 2000, when they picketed a ship that planned to employ non-union labor to unload its cargo. Although there had been peaceful picketing by 20 or 30 workers on previous occasions, on this occasion the state of South Carolina decided to escalate matters by assembling nearly 600 police officers in full riot gear. Not surprisingly, there was a confrontation between police and picketers.

A number of picketers, including Ken Riley, the president of ILA Local 1422, were injured. These authors describe the violence as being largely caused by the police, but there was also some throwing of rocks and sticks of lumber at the police by the longshoremen. Eight workers were arrested for misdemeanor trespassing and released on bond.

That was not the end of the matter. The state’s Attorney General, Charles Condon, was preparing to run for Governor. He seized on this opportunity to show himself tough on crime and on unions. His office intervened in the proceedings and charged the men with felony riot, insisted on a high bond, and had them placed under house arrest.

Thus, the seeds of an international movement were planted. Local 1422 came to the aid of these workers. And Local 1422 is an unusual union. Tracing its roots back to the loading and unloading of cargo by black slaves, Charleston longshoring has long been dominated by black workers. The union was founded in 1869. As technology has changed so has the craft of longshoring. The current leaders are college educated, and the longshoremen can make up to $100,000 per year. This is in a state that has long been known for some of the lowest wages in the country.

Local 1422 is unusual in other ways. Its leaders are deeply involved in a movement for democracy and honesty in their national union (the ILA). This has put them at odds with the national leadership, causing the national union to be slow in coming to their aid. It is active in virtually every progressive group in South Carolina, including taking a leading role in the Carolina Alliance for Fair Employment (CAFE), a worker rights group. It has recently completed a grand union hall that serves as a community center.

The efficient operation of the Charleston port is of high importance for the economy of South Carolina. The need for this, plus the historically complex race relations in the Holy City of Charleston (so called because of the number of its churches), has made for subtle institutions not readily understood by outsiders. The case of the Charleston 5 is an example of a situation where the nuanced handling of a hot racial issue  - misdemeanor charges and a low-key response – was blown apart by meddling by the state Attorney General’s office.

Building an International Movement
A main theme in the Charleston 5 story is the work of Ken Riley, his brother Leonard, Donna Dewitt, president of the South Carolina AFL-CIO, and a host of others in constructing an international social movement to pressure the state Attorney General to reach an agreed settlement of the charges against the five workers. This action grew organically from the necessities of their situation. They had little or no experience at the national or international levels, but they reached out in a pragmatic way to find help where they could. Early support was given by the ILWU, as well as by some groups well to the left of center. Riley would later refuse to separate himself from these groups. There are some interesting parallels to the experience of the South African freedom movement in this regard.

South Carolina is hardly the place where one would expect to find a union protest taking place, let alone being successful. It is among the least unionized of the American states, with a union density in the neighborhood of four percent. And this is no accident. It has been the firm public policy of the state for many years to present a solid front against labor. The industrial development policy of the state since the 1880’s has been to attract industry by offering cheap, non-union labor. This worked for many years, and is how the state attracted the textile industry from New England. Now, of course, it’s not possible to compete with such countries as China and India by offering cheap wages, since not even South Carolinians are willing to work for Chinese-level wages. However, this cultural milieu has persisted and made it possible for Attorney General Condon to play a very effective political card in going after a union.

An important aspect of the setting of this dispute is the long history of troubled race relations in South Carolina. At about the same time that this dispute was going on, the state gained notoriety as a place where the confederate flag still flew over the state capitol and in the legislative halls. In January, 2000, there was a rally of some 46,000 people demanding that the flag be taken down.  A compromise was reached among the white and black legislators that resulted in the flag being taken off the capitol dome and placed with a memorial to confederate soldiers on the capitol grounds. This did not satisfy the national NAACP, which still has in effect a boycott of the state.

Although the local setting is interesting, it is perhaps of greater importance to look at what went on internationally. There had been a longshore strike in Liverpool, United Kingdom in 1995. Lacking international support, it was disastrously lost. In Charleston, it was largely pressure from the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) that caused the Charleston workers’ own union, the ILA, to finally come to their aid. The Dockers’ Council (IDC) of the ITF threatened strikes around the world on the first day of the trial of the Charleston 5. Through the IDC, longshore unions in Spain, Sweden, Australia, and other countries announced support for the Charleston 5. The ITF announced a “global campaign,” calling for global solidarity. At the rally in Columbia, there were representatives from San Juan, Copenhagen and Seoul.

In March, 2002, after the cases were settled favorably to the Charleston 5, the first international general assembly of the IDC was held. According to the authors, “[F]or the moment, the members of ILA 1422 were the stars of the show, victors in a long history of struggle and loss” (p. 165). At another meeting, Guy Ryder, General Secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (now International Trade Union Confederation), said, “Cross-border trade union solidarity has to become an everyday part of union activity. It has to be an internationalism that moves the public policy agenda that is so badly stacked against working people today” (p. 173).

The authors conclude with some interesting insights regarding the power of proponents of the neo-liberal model and the ills of global capitalism. It is in this context that the struggle involving five workers in Charleston, South Carolina, can be best understood, and its importance recognized.

Uniting Workers in the Same Trade
It occurs to this reviewer that a crucial aspect of Local 1422’s success in this struggle was the link to workers in the same trade across national boundaries. Unionists of a leftist bent were an important factor in this exercise in international solidarity, but it may be that the more conservative trade union strategy of craft unionism is what gave this protest much of its power. The great problem of organized labor is how it can generate international solidarity. It may be that solidarity among workers of different nationalities is much easier to generate within the boundaries of a particular trade. The ghost of Samuel Gompers may be smiling down upon the Charleston waterfront.

Hoyt N. Wheeler is professor of management and Moore Fellow, Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina. He is also former president of LERA (1996).

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