Partisan Defense Committee Letter

29 July 2011

Partisan Defense Committee P.O. Box 99, Canal Street Station, New York, NY 10013

email: partisandefense@earthlink.net   www.partisandefense.org

Contact: Kevin Gilroy (212) 406-4252

Defend Longview ILWU Workers!

On July 29, the Partisan Defense Committee sent the following letter to ILWU Local 21 in Longview, WA.

29 July 2011

President Dan Coffman, Executive Board
& Members of ILWU Local 21
617 Fourteenth Avenue
Longview, WA 98632

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am attaching a copy of a protest letter the Partisan Defense Committee recently sent to Cowlitz County Prosecutor Susan Baur to demand the dropping of all charges against your union members and their supporters. From the proliferation of surveillance cameras to the ever-increasing police presence at the new EGT grain terminal, it’s clear that protest picketers are being harassed and targeted for further state repression in the service of union busting.

We stand in solidarity with your hard-fought struggle to defend the jobs of your members against EGT’s union-busting offensive. Your fight has rightly won the support of trade unions throughout the region and of ILWU locals up and down the West Coast. The police attacks on your protests are a threat to unionized workers on the docks and throughout the U.S.

Our PDC statement of purpose is below, and we will forward to you a copy of our newsletter, Class Struggle Defense Notes, by surface mail.

Fraternally,
Karen Allen
for the Partisan Defense Committee

cc:
   ILWU International (President, IEB, Coast Committeemen, Dispatcher)
   ILWU Local 10 (President, Executive Board, Members)
   ILWU Local  8 (President, Executive Board, Members)
   ILWU Local 4 (President, Executive Board, Members)

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26 July 2011

Susan I. Baur
Cowlitz County Prosecuting Attorney
Hall of Justice, Room 105
312 SW First Avenue
Kelso, WA 98626

Dear Ms. Baur:

The Partisan Defense Committee protests the police harassment, roundups and innumerable arrests targeting International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 21 longshoremen and their supporters who are defending Local 21 jobs against union-busting by the EGT bosses at the new grain terminal in the Port of Longview, WA. Protest picketers have been met by a massive police presence of sheriff’s deputies, police from nearby towns and Washington State troopers, and over 100 have been arrested, some facing felony charges.

We demand that all charges against Local 21 members and their supporters be dropped!

Sincerely,
Karen Allen
for the Partisan Defense Committee

cc:
   ILWU Local 21
   ILWU International

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The PDC is a class-struggle, non-sectarian legal and social defense organization which champions cases and causes in the interest of the whole of the working people.  This purpose is in accordance with the political views of the Spartacist League.