Defend the Crockett Ten –
Drop All Charges!

Some of the defendants and supporters of the Crockett Ten at August 19 solidarity rally outside the court in Richmond, California. (Photo: Aric Crabb / Bay Area News Group)

On August 19, the first court hearings were scheduled for the ten picketers who were arrested outside the C&H Sugar refinery in Crockett, California during a day of action called by International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10 on July 21. Coming on day 37 of a strike by the refinery’s warehouse workers in ILWU Local 6, the union shut down all ports in northern California and more than 400 unionists rushed to Crockett (see article). After the last pickets left, Contra Costa County sheriffs arrested ten of them, including five ILWUers and five Internationalists.

In the morning, those facing felony charges appeared, but they were informed that no charges had been filed yet. Local 10 president Mike Villeggiante spoke to the crowd of supporters saying that the arrestees had done nothing wrong, that the arrests reflected injustices against the working class leading to strikes all over the country, that there must be no concessionary contracts and if Local 6 didn’t get justice after 60 days of negotiating, “we might be back on the picket line.”

Flier for the 19 August rally.
Click on image to view englarged version.

A united-front solidarity rally to “Defend the Crockett Ten – Drop All the Charges!” was called by the Internationalist Group (see leaflet at right), and drew some 90 people. The rally chair, Will, one of those arrested, noted that the ILWU strike had received solidarity from some of the most powerful port and metal workers unions in the world  (see letters here), and that  the arrests were in revenge for the powerful pickets on July 21.  Solidarity statements were read from IUPAT (Painters) Local 10 in Portland, Oregon; AFSCME Retiree Local 57; ATU (Transit workers) Local 1555; the Oakland Education Association and Contra Costa Adult Education Teachers Union.

Yohannes, one of the ILWU Local 10 workers arrested, thanked people for their support. Other speakers included an Amazon worker, a representative of the United Front Committee for a Labor Party, a Local 10 retiree, who said it was a mistake to call off the strike, especially without amnesty for several fired workers; a spokesman for the Partisan Defense Committee, the legal defense group associated with the Spartacist League;  a Local 10 retiree; a speaker from the Freedom Socialist Party; two members of the Stanford Eleven, who spoke about their upcoming court case growing out of the 2023-24 Gaza solidarity encampments; and Terry Lovett, whose son Jalani was murdered in 2021 in a jail controlled by the notorious Los Angeles sheriffs’ deputies gangs. The rally chair led the crowd in chanting “We remember Jalani Lovett,” and ending with “Only revolution can bring justice.”

A speaker for the Internationalist Group talked about how July 21 was the embodiment of the principle that “picket lines mean don’t cross,” emphasizing how police protect capital. He cited some of the history of militant ILWU actions, including the May Day 2008 port shutdown against the imperialist wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the 2020 shutdown against racist police terror. Noting that the owners of C&H Sugar, the Cuban exile Fanjul family, support both Democrats and Republicans, he said what’s needed is not a labor party, which are pro-imperialist parties, but a class-struggle workers party.

Upwards of 125 people came out on August 19 to show solidarity with the Crockett Ten and with the ILWU strike and picket at C&H Sugar.  Click on image to view englarged version. (Internationalist photo)

In the afternoon court date, for those facing misdemeanor charges, the defendants were again informed that charges had not yet been filed, but that the district attorney has up to a year to present charges. So it appears likely that county authorities will continue to hold this over the defendants’ heads and run out the clock, or activate charges if picketing at C&H does in fact resume.

Filing out of the court house the Crockett Ten supporters held an impromptu gathering where filmmaker Boots Riley (who was the main spokesman of Occupy Oakland in 2011) said that the strike at C&H was important because, “a lot of people don’t know the difference between a protest and a strike.” This is partly because “sometimes you have a strike that just lets the scabs in.” On July 21, the ILWU made it clear to people that “they were keeping scabs out. That shows how class struggle can work.” He added that what he was seeing among those supporting the strike was “a radical vision of a world ... where workers own the means of production.”

The fight to defend the Crockett Ten, and for victory to the ILWU Local 6 warehouse workers continues. ■