Will court rulings on affirmative THE action provoke fightback? Page3 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 53/NO. 24 JUNE 30, 1989 $1.00 Eastern Coal miners' strike strikers step up expands to 11 states activity 30,000 walk out, jailed leaders freed on with it! No surrender! We're in this for the BY SUSAN LaMONT long term. They're after our soul," the June Striking Eastern workers in many cities 22 New York Times reported. are moving ahead with plans for stepped-up picket lines and rallies at airports in re­ Miners strike from Virginia to Kansas sponse to Eastern Airlines' announcement The walkouts, which began June 12 in that it intends to have 226 flights in the air support of fellow miners on strike against by July 2. Pittston and New Beckley Mining, now in­ In Chicago International Association of volve more than 30,000 miners in 11 states Machinists Local 1487 is organizing a rally out of a total unionized work force of 80,000: from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.i:n., July 2, at Chi­ • On April 5, some 1,700 miners struck cago-0' Hare International Airport, in front of Pittston Coal Group in Virginia and West Eastern and Continental airlines' ticket Virginia. With the walkout at Pittston's counters. Both carriers are owned by Texas Eastern Coal Corp. in Stone, Kentucky, on Air Corp., headed by Frank Lorenzo. June 19, every unionized Pittston mine has now been struck. "Come and join us on the Eastern picket The company is operating several of the line," says Eastern strike coordinator Robert mines with scab labor, though at greatly re­ Stine in a leaflet issued by lAM Local1781 duced production rates. in San Francisco. "Eastern Airlines has an­ nounced plans to resume flying between • An estimated two-thirds of West San Francisco and Atlanta, beginning July Virginia's 24,000 miners had walked off the 2, with nonunion crews. We want to make job by June 17. sure that all passengers on the initial flights at 9:00a.m. and 12:45 p.m. know that the • Most of UMW District 28 in south­ lAM is alive and well- and mad as hell!" western Virginia is out. More than 2,500 Militant/Kathleen Mickells strikers and supporters have been arrested in Machinists Local 1445 Secretary Trea­ Miners rally in Charleston June 11 Virginia since the Pittston strike began. surer Frank DeMaria reports there will be a • Some 3,000 union miners in Pennsyl­ rally at 5:00 p.m., on June 30, at Newark vania have walked off the job. International Airport. The event is also BY RONI McCANN Strike coordinator Marty Hudson, UMWA being sponsored by the Transport Workers AND MAGGIE McCRAW District 28 President Jackie Stump, and Inter­ • So have all1 ,750 UMW miners in Dis­ Union (TWU), which represents striking CHARLESTON, W.Va.- In a victory for national Representative C.A. Phillips were trict 11 in Indiana - the largest strike there flight attendants, and the Air Line Pilots the strike which is spreading throughout the arrested in VIrginia on June 5 and held in since 1981. Indiana miners have contributed Association (ALPA). It will be held at Ter­ nation's coalfields, Federal District Court contempt of court for allegedly violating an more than $84,000 to the Pittston miners' minal C, where Continental flights are Judge Glen Williams released United Mine order restricting strike activity against strike fund. based. Other New Jersey unions will also be Workers of America leaders Marty Hudson, Pittston Coal Group. • More than 200 miners shut down the Continued on Page 7 C.A. Phillips, and Jackie Stump on June 20. After being freed, Hudson said, "Let's get Sunglow mine in eastern Kentucky. There are now more than 1,000 miners out on strike in that state. • Some 200 have walked out in Tennes­ Gov't crackdown continues in China, see, more than 1,000 in Ohio, and the strike has spread to Kansas as well. • All of District 20, which includes most dozens executed for role in protests of Alabama, is now on strike. • On June 19 some 350 miners struck the Associated Electrical Cooperative in Ran­ BY FRED FELDMAN to the June 3 and 4 assault by government The death sentences and public humilia­ The Chinese government is sentencing a troops in Beijing that left hundreds of civil­ tion to which some of the arrested workers dolph County, Missouri. These mines ac­ count for nearly 80 percent of all coal mined large number of people to death for alleged ians dead. "After troops began firing on civil­ have been subjected reflect the regime's de­ roles in resisting the crackdown on student­ ians," reported the New York Times' Nicholas termination to block any further involvement in the state. led protests that demanded democratic rights, Kristof, an eyewitness to some of the June 4 by workers in struggles for democratic rights • At midnight, June 20, all the 8,500 min­ or for participation in earlier protests. At least killings, "demonstrations spontaneously Continued on Page 13 Continued on Page 10 27 have been executed since the June 4 mas­ turned violent all over the capital as ordinary sacre by troops in Beijing. citizens tried to resist tanks and armed troops Beijing radio announced June 21 that 45 with sticks and rocks and firebombs." people in Jinan in Shandong Province had A Beijing television announcer said the Two Cuban women on U.S. tour been sentenced to death or prison terms for eight included peasants, workers, and unem­ "seriously endangering public order." Seven­ ployed. teen were said to have received death senten­ "In order to crack down strictly on the get warm welcome in New York ces. counterrevolutionary rebellion and crush Three Shanghai workers were publicly ex­ criminal behavior," a television announcer BY JON HILLSON :Breaking this blockade with the FMC tour, ecuted June 21. They had been convicted for declared, "the Beijing intermediate court NEW YORK - Two leaders of the Feder­ said Cathy Sedwick, Venceremos Brigade re­ participation in actions that began June 6 after agreed to sentence them to death." ation of Cuban Women (FMC) got a rousing gional committee member, "should inspire us a railroad train reportedly rammed into and Two other Chinese workers were dis­ welcome during the New York leg of their to reach out to mount more efforts to fight killed six people - four of them workers - played on television carrying placards de­ national speaking tour, cosponsored by the restrictions on information and travel to and who were staging a sit-in on the tracks. scribing their alleged crimes. The writing on U.S.-Cuba Women's Exchange and the from Cuba. That's the battle the brigade is A large crowd, reportedly including many the placards accused them of rumor-monger­ Venceremos Brigade. committed to, and we invite you to join us." workers, set nine railcars on fire and large ing and agitation, and announced that they Carolina Aguilar, a founding FMC activist Sedwick cochaired the meeting with Pizarro. crowds blocked the tracks for many hours had been sentenced to "reform" through and current member of its national director­ Among those introduced from the platform thereafter. Three were convicted June 14 after labor. ate, and Catherine Ribas, director of the were Margarita Delgado, first secretary of the a one-day trial. In China, executions - usually by firing a group's North American department, spoke Cuban mission to the United Nations, and Those executed were an employee in a bullet into the back of the prisoner's head - here June 16 to 130 people. The meeting was Ken Jones, a national executive committee Shanghai brewery, a worker in a radio factory, are normally carried out a few days after trial. held at Casa de las Americas. member of the Venceremos Brigade. Olga and an unemployed worker. Those executed are among some l ,000 Winning U.S. visas for Aguilar and Ribas Sanabria, a central committee member of the people who have been arrested in a continu­ was a "tremendous victory," Rafael Pizarro, Puerto Rican Socialist Party, translated for Sentencing in Beijing ing roundup of participants and leaders in the a national comm ittee member of the the two speakers. On June 17 eight people were sentenced to protests. Venceremos Brigade, explained to the meet­ "There is much being said about the role of death in Beijing. They were charged with They include student leaders and activists. ing. The U.S. government routinely denies women in society," Aguilar said. "Some cur­ allegedly taking part in "riots" in which six Some have been captured. Others have turned visas to Cubans invited to speak in this coun­ rents blame women for certain problems," buses or military vehicles were burned and themselves in or been turned in by neighbors try, as part of a 30-year campaign to stifle claiming that women " leaving home for some soldiers injured. or family members as the atmosphere of in­ public access to the truth about the Cuban work" are the source of increasing social These incidents stemmed from resistance timidation has heightened. revolution. Continued on Page 13 Toronto workers welcome Eastern strike coverage BY ROSEMARY RAY working for Canada's two biggest The union movement is opposing cent buyout by Canadian Airlines ments in the Eastern strike. TORONTO - During a two­ airlines, Air Canada and Canadian the privatization, which is part of the had already resulted in 200 layoffs at One ramp worker said he had week period in early June, Militant Airlines.