On this day in Southern labor history, January 20th, 2000, we remember the Charleston Five. The International Longshoreman's Association (ILA) workers set up picket lines to protest a renegade shipping lines announcement that they'd stop using union labor. The particularly anti-union State's Attorney General Charles Condon decided to break the strike and sent 600+ state troopers down to the line. The demonstration soon escalated into a violent faceoff between authorities and the workers. Five workers were arrested as a result and faced felony rioting charges, which carried about five to 10 years jail time. In response, dockworkers all over the world refused to unload non-union ships in solidarity, from the West Coast to Spain and more. The Danish company, Nordana, eventually came to an agreement with the ILA after so much global disruption and the issues were resolved. As for the five workers facing jail time, Riley explains, “The whole world, all of South Carolina, all across America, workers responded by encouraging our legislature and judicial system to let these guys go free. That’s solidarity. They started to chime in on the powers that be that together we are not going to tolerate injustice to these workers. And when it's all said and done, these workers were basically acquitted and they were set free.” The story of the Charleston Five shows the power of solidarity and what we can win when we stand together across the world.
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