Chicago unionists hear anti-apartheid organizers
1988 1988-07Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 2 →
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Calendar of Events 2 SOCIALIST ACTION JULY 1988 CHICAGO-Some 75 union members armed themselves with the hard facts about apartheid and the role of South African unions at a conference here June 11.
The conference, "From Soweto, South Africa, to Chicago—A Fight for Union Rights and Human Rights," was sponsored by the Illinois Labor Network Against Apartheid, a committee recently launched by affiliates of over 30 unions in the area.
A 20-minute slideshow on the Shell Oil boycott, prepared by the United Mineworkers union, launched the day's program. The slideshow provoked some smiles when it described Shell's accusation against fired oil-workers; they stood accused of "hardcore trade-unionism!" Shell is the largest exporter of oil to South Africa.
The next speaker, Nomonde Ngubo, Socialist View of Religion' Speaker: Prof. Paul Siegel, author Friday, July 8, 8 p.m.
Cleveland Hts. Public Library, 2345 Lee Rd.
For info: 429-2167 Cleveland 'Blues Jam for Peace in Central America' Sun., July 24, 4 p.m. on. Peabody's Down Under Sponsored by Cleveland Central America Network and Cleveland Bay Area Musicians Admission: $8 $4 Students & unemployed described the movement to Africa-and the importance of international solidarity.
Ngubo is now an international representative of the United Mineworkers union and organizer of the Shell boycott. She pointed out that South Africa produces 80 percent of the GNP of Africa and exports 60 percent of the continent's agricultural production. The population has a 70 percent literacy rate—yet the government maintains a virtual slave-labor system with apartheid.
capacity of the labor effect change in South Boston The Legacy of Mat colm X: A Film 2 Showings:
Thur. July 7, 11:45 a.m U. Mass. (Harbor)
Sat., July 9, 7:30 p.m.
Cambridge YWCA.
For info: 497-0230 Ngubo explained that "the labor movement has been a blessing for the anti-apartheid movement." Several mass mobilizations have taken place despite the state of emergency. She highlighted the strike by 300,000 miners in 1987 and last month's giant three-day strike that protested restrictions on the trade unions.
Workshops and final conference resolutions focussed heavily on sanctions. But one interesting workshop discussed a wide range of measures that U.S. unions have taken to support the fight against apartheid.
These measures include the International Longshore and Warehouse Union's refusal to handle South African cargo and the campaign-supported by the United Auto Workers union and the United Steelworkers of America-to free Moses Mayekiso, the imprisoned leader of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa.
Another example is the ad co-sponsored by the Illinois Labor Network and published in the Johannesburg Star that supported the June 16 stayaway in commemoration of the Soweto uprising of 1976.
The Illinois Labor Network also cosponsored a march and rally held in Chicago on Soweto Day. The June 16 demonstration drew some 400 to the South African consulate.
For more information, Illinois Labor Network Against Apartheid, c/o Machinists District 8, 1225 Harlem, Forest Park, Il 60130.
ACTION Closing date: June 26. 1988 date: June 26, Editor: ALAN BENJAMIN Asst. Editors: MICHAEL SCHREIBER Staff: Paul Colvin, May May Gong, David Kirschner, Hayden Perry, Kwame M.A.
Somburu, Sylvia Weinstein.
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Wise Free Synagogue; and Edward Said,