The AFL-CIO, its member unions and hundreds of workers spent months organizing anti-FTAA protests last year in Miami. After working out march routes and permits with the police, thousands of unionists converged on Miami Nov. 17-21 for a perfectly legal expression of their right to dissent.
But it was not to be. On the way in unionists were blocked by police. Later police attacked workers on permitted parade routes. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney witnessed police violence personally, and was hopping mad.
“The Miami police violated virtually every agreement,” he said in a Nov. 26, 2003 press release. “They blocked access to the rally and march for busses and individuals; deployed tanks and scores of officers in riot gear in front of the rally entrance; denied march organizers access to water, signs, and toilets; and pointed guns and verbally abused those seeking guidance from the police. Peaceful protestors were swept up in police cordons, shot at with rubber bullets and pepper spray, arrested and mistreated while in police custody. The level of police presence and their aggressive stance was leagues beyond what was warranted.”
Sweeney wrote to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft Dec. 3 asking for independent investigations into police conduct. He demanded prosecution of those responsible, the resignation of Miami Police Chief John Timoney, the dropping of all charges against peaceful protestors and assurances such violations would never again occur.
United Steelworkers of America President Leo Gerard fired off a letter Nov. 24 to key Congressional leaders asking for the firing of Miami Police Chief John Timoney and the dropping of all charges against demonstrators.
“It is condemnable enough that a massive police state was created to prevent American citizens from directly petitioning FTAA negotiators for redress of their grievances,” he wrote. “It is doubly condemnable that nearly $9 million of federal funds designated for the reconstruction of Iraq were used toward this despicable purpose. How can we hope to build democracy in Iraq while using massive force to dismantle it here at home?”
Gerard also called for a Congressional investigation into the use of federal money for police violence. “To do less would be to endorse homeland repression in the name of homeland security,” he said.
Several unions, including SEIU and UNITE, also called for a Congressional investigation into the police mismanagement.
The USWA is trying to make sure the issue, especially Police Chief Timoney’s role in the violent repression, remains visible.
“We plan on keeping Timoney from getting future jobs, like at the Democratic National Convention in Boston this summer,” said USWA spokesman Gary Hubbard. “We have so far kept it blocked.”
Since then union workers have joined the National Lawyers Guild lawsuit and the AFL-CIO has cooperated with attorneys in gathering evidence for future lawsuits. AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka testified on police misconduct before the Miami local civilian investigative panels. He laid the responsibility for the violence on police leaders at a Dec. 16, 2003 hearing.
“I blame top police officials for failing to develop a clear plan for guaranteeing public safety while respecting our rights,” Trumka said. “I blame police management for putting more effort into fomenting needless fear and hysteria than they did into providing training, ensuring coordination and building morale for their hard-working officers.”
At another hearing on March 1 Trumka refuted a prior Miami Police Dept. three-hour presentation, complete with a slickly produced video, that claimed the AFL-CIO, in cohoots with “anarchists,” was responsible for the violence. “We are still preparing and gathering evidence for a lawsuit,” AFL-CIO campaign coordinator Debbie Dion told The Dispatcher.
“We’re keeping the pressure and heat on the best we can.”
—Tom Price
