South Africa~ tlllinois Labor Network Update ---------------------------------May1988------~-------------------------

Illinois Labor Network Against Apartheid Chairs

Johnnie Jackson President, Chicago Chapter Coalition of Labor Union Women

Jack Parton Director, District 31 United Steelworkers of America

Bill Stewart Director, Region 4 United Auto Workers

Co-Chairs

Michael Calendo Directing Business Representative District 8, Machinists

Stephen M. Culen, Executive Director Rosetta Daylie, Associate Director Council 31, American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees

Elcosie Gresham President, Local 241 Amalgamated Transit Union

Phillip lmmesote Director, Region 11 United Food & Commercial Workers

Tony Kujawa International Exec. Board, District 12 United Mine Workers of America

Arthur Loevy Manager, Chicago & Central States Joint Board, Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union

Eugene Moats President, Joint Council 1 Service Employees International Union

Louis Montenegro Director, Midwest Region Int. Ladies Garment Workers Union

Robert Nelson National Vice-President, American Federation of Government Employees

Robert T. Simpson, Jr. President, Local 743 International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Jacqueline Vaughn President, Chicago Teachers Union

Coordinators

Kathy Devine Coalition of Labor Union Women (312) S83-6661

Harold Rogers Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (312) 684-7309

Labor conference to be held June 11 ILNM will hold a conference for local unions on Saturday, June 11 at the Amalgamated Cloth­ing and Textile Workers Union, 333 S. Ashland, Chicago, 9:00 a.m. to 1 :30 p.m.

The conference is entitled From Soweto, South Africa to Chicago: A fight for Union Rights & Human Rights. It is cosponsored by the Roosevelt University Labor Education Division and the University of Illinois Chicago Labor Edu­cation Program.

June 16 demonstration A demonstration will be held at the South Afri­can Consulate, 200 S. Michigan, Chicago, on Thursday, June 16 beginning at 4:00 p.m. Union members are urged to join with anti-apartheid groups on June 16 (Soweto Day) and demand the release of jailed S.A. trade unionists. For more information, call 583-6661 (ILNAA) or 922-9315 (CCISSA). D

Charges against 7 labor leaders dropped Trespassing charges against 7 Illinois labor lead­ers and a priest were dropped when defendants appeared in court on April 13. The 8 were ar­rested on March 18 for refusing to leave the Borg-Warner building in Chicago after meeting with the South African Consulate General.

jack Parton, District 31 Director of the Steel­workers, and Bill Stewart, Region 4 Director of the Auto Workers, led the delegation to the Consulate, where they delivered thousands of petitions from local unions demanding the re­lease of jailed S.A. unionists and all political prisoners.

Arrested along with Parton and Stewart were: Elcosie Gresham, President of Transit Union Local 241; Rosetta Daylie, Associate Di­rector of AFSCME Council 31; Rev. Michael Pfleger, Pastor, St. Sabina Catholic Church; Richard Ziebell, President, UAW Local 477; Johnnie Jackson, Chicago President, Coalition of Labor Union Women; and Carole Travis, Pres­ident, UAW Local 719. (continued)

The conference will focus on issues of in­terest to unions. It will include discussion of the Shell boycott; what U.S. sanctions mean for U.S. and S.A. workers; the politics of apar­theid; and building labor solidarity between unions in Illinois and S.A. United Mine Workers President Richard Trumka and Cong. Ronald V. Dellums have been invited to address the con­ference.

Registration costs $10 per person. Write checks to the Illinois Labor Network Against Apartheid and send to ILNM, %Machinists Dis­trict 8, 1225S. Harlem, Forest Park, IL60130. o

Shareholders move on Shell American National Bank has called for an ex­traordinary shareholders meeting to vote on ending Shell's South Africa operations. With nearly one million shares, it is the largest Illinois holder of Royal Dutch/Shell stock. The bank joined union pension funds, American Baptist Churches USA, Mellon Bank and other major shareholders in calling for the meeting.

Royal Dutch/Shell is the largest corporation in the world in terms of assets. Its bylaws re­quire 10% of the shareholders to call an extraor­dinary meeting. More than 13 million shares, about one-half of the number needed, are now committed to the action.

American National Bank agreed to join the shareholders action following a meeting with State Rep . Woods Bowman, Aid. Allan Streeter, United Methodist Bishop Jesse deWitt, Rosetta Daylie (AFSCME), and representatives of I LNAA and the United Mine Workers (Washington of­fice). At an April news conference, ILNAA union representatives, Aid. Allan Streeter and Aid. Jesus Garcia announced the agreement.

Shell is the target of a growing worldwide boycott supported by the AFL-CIO, 47 interna­tional unions, the Coalition of Black Trade Un­ionists, and many religious and civil rights or­ganizations. o

BOYCOTT SHELL Steering Committee (in formation): John Agrela, Business Manager, Local S71, Sheet Metal Workers; Charles Barton, Secy-Treas., Local SOOP, UFCW; Emma Beck, Retired, Local SOOP, U FCW; Joe Costigan, Education Dept., ACTWU; Bob Dahlke, President/Bus. Mgr., Local 16S, Int. Brotherhood of Elec. Workers; Mike Flores, Int. Rep., Coordinator Civil Rights Council, Reg. 4, UAW; Michael I. Handley, Assistant to Vice-President, District 4, Communications Workers of America; Fred Harris, President, United WorkersAssociation/U.E. Local 11S4; Barbara (B.J.) Jones, President, Chicago/A. Philip Randolph Institute; Bessie Lee, Secy-Treas., Ch icago Joint Board, Retail, Wholesale & Dept. Store Union; Max Liberles, President, Local 2000, AFSCME; Ronald F. Luesmann, President, Local 1SSO, UFCW; Ron Martin, Region 1, AFL-CIO; Andrew Mason, Executive Asst. to Regional Director, UFCW; Arthur L. Mitcham, Exec. Board, Local 81, Int. Fed. of Professional & Tech. Engineers; John O'Gara, President, Local 1, Hotel & Restaurant Employees; Rick, Olesen, President, Local 145, UAW; Ronald Powell, President, Local 881, UFCW; Alfonso Richardson, Business Rep., Local 881, UFCW; Frank Rosen, Director, District 11, United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers; Rachel Rubin, Chair, Chicago Committee in Solidarity with Southern Africa; Carl Shier, President, Retired Workers Chapter, Local 6, UAW; Tom Suhrbur, Illinois Education Association Staff Organization; Carole Travis, President, Local 719, UAW; Mitch Vogel, President, Local 4100, AFT; Cleveland Ware, President, Chicago Area Civil Rts. Council, UAW; Jarvis Williams, President, Local 46, SEIU; Cole Wright, President, Local SOOP, UFCW; Richard Ziebell, President, Local 477, UAW.

Day of solidarity with S.A. unionists On March 18, hundreds of union members rallied at the Federal Plaza and then marched to the S.A. Consulate. They demanded the release of jailed unionists and carried signs to Free Moses Mayekiso, General Secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa. He is now on trial charged with "high treason" by the apartheid government.

Participating in the action were Chicago Federation of Labor Secretary-Treasurer Michael Bruton, UFCW Region 11 Director Phillip lmmesote, AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Will­iam Lucy and Congressman Charles Hayes.

A labor delegation presented demands for comprehensive sanctions to representatives of the U.S. State Department, Sen. Alan Dixon, Sen. Paul Simon and Rep. Sidney Yates.

Comprehensive sanctions gain support in Illinois In April Sen. Paul Simon and Rep. Sidney Yates became cospon­sors of the Comprehensive Sanctions bills, S.556/H.R.1580, sponsored by Sen. Alan Cranston and Rep. Ronald Dellums . Five Representatives from Illinois previously joined the 114 cosponsors of H.R.1580: Charles Hayes, Gus Savage, Cardiss Collins, Lane Evans and Kenneth Gray.

Democrats who are not yet cosponsors include Sen. Alan Dixon, and Reps. Martin Russo, William Lipinski, Dan Rosten­kowski, Frank Annunzio, Terry Bruce and Richard Durbin. None of the Republicans from Illinois are yet cosponsors.

The push for stronger sanctions has escalated since the apartheid regime began a new crackdown in late February on major opposition groups, including the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)- effectively banning the groups. (The government also dealt a severe blow to unions by proposing new labor restrictions.)

In response to COSATU and major S.A. unions, the AFL­CIO and many unions are lobbying for passage of S.556/ H.R.1580 which mandate a full trade embargo against S.A.

Unions are urged to write Sen. Dixon and their Represen­tatives in support of S.556/H.R.1580 immediately. o

Africans visit Chicago Nangolo lilonga, General Secretary of the public employees union in Namibia, visited Chicago in April and met with many groups including representatives of AFSCME locals and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. Chicago was also visited by Sam Njoma, head of the South West Africa Peoples Organi­zation, who met with CBTU and others. D

Leaders of UFCW Local SOOP, USWA District 31, UFCW Local 1550, AFGE, UFCE Local 881, UAW Local 719, AFT Local 4100, SEIU Local 46, UAW Local 477 and CCISSA presented the demands during the rally.

March 18 was declared A Day of Solidarity with South African Trade Unionists by Chicago's City Council, which also sup­ported comprehensive sanctions against the apartheid gov­ernment. City Council President Pro-Tern Danny K. Davis and Aid. Allan Streeter introduced the action. Aid. Roman Pucinski chaired the hearing, during which representatives of USWA, UAW, CLUW, AFSCME, ILNAA, RWDSU and CCISSA testified. A resolution passed the Council unanimously and all three aldermen joined the March 18 rally. o

Charges dropped rcontinuedJ

Speaking in court on the behalf of defendants, Gresham said: "Your honor, the people who were arrested ... are lead­ers of thousands of working people .... As our members un­derstand the need for a good contract, they also understand what it is like for black South Africans to live in a society where people do not even have basic human rights .. .. We may pay a price for what we did ... but we feel it is a very small price to pay .... We will continue our protest .. . until there is no more apartheid."

Following the court appearance, Stewart urged all unions to join in "demanding that Shell stop fueling the notorious South African security and police forces!" o

Illinois Labor Network Against Apartheid ILNAA is rallying local unions behind jailed S.A. unionists and COSATU, S.A.'s major labor federation . Affiliates of 30 international unions have participated since our first organiz­ing meeting in late 1987.

We stand with South African unions as they fight the at­rocities of the apartheid regime. In June of 1986, the govern­ment began a state of emergency and banned foreign repor­ters from covering unrest. While the struggle to free South Africa escalated, the story died in the U.S. news media. Ig­nored were the 28,000 detentions under the emergency de­crees- 40% children under the age of 18.

While the S.A. government bans political dissent, it sends propaganda agents to convince the American people that what is happening in South Africa is reform .

What IS happening is that the apartheid government is trying to destroy the growing, militant unions who are now in the forefront of the fight to end apartheid. But, South African unions are fighting back .

We join them by responding to their repeated calls for total sanctions, for action on Shell, and for exposure of their government's brutality against the black majority. That is what the Labor Network is about. In ILNM, we stand with union brothers and sisters as they build strong democratic labor unions and fight for a free South Africa. D

Leaflets, films and speakers are available for local unions through ILNM coordinators Kathy Devine (583-6661) and Harold Rogers (684-7309). "Free Moses Mayekiso" and "Stop Apartheid/Boycott Shell" buttons are available for purchase. o

Published by ILNAA, %Machinists District 8, 1225 S. Harlem, Forest Park, IL 60130. ._.,8 601