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World Conference of Workers
In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights
Report and Presentation from the Four-Day Tour of France by ILWU Local 10 Secretary-Treasurer
Presentation by Clarence Thomas, Secretary Treasurer ILWU Local 10, to Sept. 27 rally in Paris at Mutualité Hall
Report from the Four-Day Tour to France by ILWU Local 10 Secretary-Treasurer Clarence Thomas
Report from the Four-Day Tour to France by ILWU Local 10 Secretary-Treasurer Clarence Thomas
On September 27 through October 1, Clarence Thomas,
secretary-treasurer of ILWU Local 10, traveled to France at the invitation
of the French Workers Party and the International Liaison Committee for a
Workers' International (ILC). The purpose of the brief tour was to build
support for the embattled ILWU and to organize mass opposition to Bush's
war against working people the world over -- particularly the imminent war
on the people of Iraq.
The French Workers Party and ILC are a component part of the OWC
Continuations Committee. In recent years they have been in the forefront
of the effort to build international solidarity with the Liverpool dockers,
the Neptune Jade defendants, the Charleston Five -- the fight to free
Mumia Abu-Jamal, and the list goes on.
* On Sept. 27, Thomas addressed a mass rally of thousands of unionists and
activists at the Mutualité Hall in Paris.
* On Sept. 30, Thomas traveled to the Port of Dunkerque, one of France's
major ports, where he met with the leadership of the Dock Workers Union (affilitated
with the ITF) and spoke with dockworkers throughout the day. The leaders
of the union pledged their full support for the ILWU and committed
themselves to rallying support for the ILWU among dockworkers' unions
across France -- just as was done in 1946, when the French dockworkers
pledged to refuse to unload cargo from the United States if Truman
followed through on his threat to use Army and/or Navy personnel to break
the ILWU's strike.
* On Oct. 1, in Paris, Thomas met with the leaders of transport workers
unions, as well as the leadership of the Paris Department Section of the
CGT-Force Ouvriere. Here, too, Thomas received pledges of full support for
the ILWU in its contract battle with the PMA and the Bush administration.
Below we are reprinting the full presentation by Clarence Thomas to the
rally in Paris on Sept. 27th. In a separate posting, we will reprint major
excerpts from the other speakers who addressed the Paris rally. -- OWC
Continuations Committee
**********
Presentation by Clarence Thomas, Secretary Treasurer ILWU Local 10, to
Sept. 27 rally in Paris at Mutualité Hall
Bonsoir.
On behalf of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10, I bring
greetings and solidarity to the Workers Party of France, the International
Liaison Committee for Workers' Rights, and all the unionists and labor
activists who are here tonight. It is indeed a privilege and a pleasure to
be among you because you are truly activists for peace, economic justice,
and international labor solidarity. You have been in the vanguard of so
many important issues - such as the fight against the FTAA and the WTO, as
well as solidarity with the Liverpool dockers' struggle, the Charleston
Five, the Neptune Jade defendants, and the efforts to free Mumia Abu-Jamal.
The ILWU will never forget what the longshoremen in France did in 1946. In
that year, you told President Truman, "If you attempt to use the U.S.
Navy and the Army to man and load cargo ships, then we will treat those
ships as if they were loaded with scab labor -- and we will refuse to
unload them."
That message was so strong that Truman had to retreat and not use the
military to break our strike. It is that kind of labor solidarity that is
going to be necessary today, because once again the ILWU is being faced
with not only a battle with the employers but also with the Bush
administration.
For the past five months, the ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA)
have been involved in contentious negotiations. Those negotiations have
been further complicated by the intervention of the Bush administration.
The Bush administration is using the tragic events of September 11th as a
subterfuge to launch an attack on hard-fought and hard-won union gains.
Early in our negotiations, Tom Ridge, chief of the Department of Homeland
Security, placed a telephone call to our international president. That
raised the question: What does the head of the secret police have to do
with issues concerning collective bargaining? That telephone call was a
veiled threat to our union that the government would put its weight on the
side of the employer not only to come up with an agreement in the
employers' favor, but also to send the message that it would crush the
ILWU.
The ILWU has a long history of going up against the government:
* The ILWU came out against the war in Vietnam in 1964, long before any
other labor union thought it was worthy to do so.
* In 1974, the ILWU joined the international boycott of Chilean cargo,
following the overthrow and murder of democratically elected President
Salvador Allende by the CIA-backed military junta.
* In 1980, the ILWU imposed similar boycott for cargo bound for the
dictatorship of El Salvador.
* In 1989, the Union also became a key player in the international boycott
of Salvadoran coffee.
* In 1984, it was my local, Local 10, which refused to unload ships from
the apartheid State of South Africa. This action helped spark a national
and international divestment movement that led to the eventual collapse of
the apartheid government.
* On April 24, 1999, the ILWU closed all ports on the West Coast in
solidarity with the national protest to free Mumia Abu-Jamal.
It is for this reason, our glorious progressive history, along with the
fact that we control the movement of cargo on the entire West Coast, that
the Bush administration has not only launched an "endless war on
terrorism," but also a war against the ILWU.
In 1934, the ILWU engaged in a coast-wide strike. Before that, the unions
were forced to negotiate contracts by respective locals -- without a
coast-wide agreement. The Bush administration would like to take the ILWU
back to the days before 1934. That will never happen!
We understand that as unionists we have an obligation not only to
negotiate good wages and working conditions for our members, but we also
have a responsibility to propel the issue of economic social justice for
all working and oppressed people.
It is an honor for me to be here to convey to you that all of the American
workers do not agree with George Bush and his endless war against
terrorism. The war on terrorism is a war on workers' rights. It's a war on
our civil liberties. It's a war to support the agenda of global
capitalism.
In closing, I would like to lead you to chant: "An injury to one is
an injury to all!" -- "An injury to one is an injury to
all!"
Let me translate that:
"Une attaque contre un est une attaque contre tous!"
Merci.