"They didn't claim that I was doing a poor job as a sewing machine operator, or that something I did on the job was disruptive," Italie said. "They fired me simply for running for public office in the city of Miami and expressing certain political positions--that is outrageous and unconstitutional.  
 
Reaching out for support
"My supporters and I are reaching out for support here in Miami, in Florida, and across the country. We urge other defenders of freedom of speech--prominent civil libertarians, unionists, farmers, Black rights organizations, student groups, and others--to call on the city authorities, who are responsible for enforcing the law, to demand that Goodwill Industries reinstate me. We can get broad support, including among those who don't agree with me on different political issues."

He added, "If Goodwill gets away with its victimization of a worker for the advocacy of ideas, other employers will try to do the same. This is an attack on the rights of all working people. Our goal is to make it harder for bosses to fire anyone for expressing ideas they disapprove of."

Italie, who was interviewed in Spanish by Channel 51 across from the plant gate, talked with a number of his co-workers as they came out of work, and handed out a sheet explaining the facts and soliciting support.

Dozens of workers took the fliers and many gave him a friendly response. "Mike is a good worker," said a 33-year-old sewing machine operator who is originally from Haiti. He said he had been surprised when he heard Italie had been fired October 22.

"Bosses here sometimes yell at us, and then they claim we don't have a right to object to their abuse," said another worker, who said he too was against the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan.  
 
'Trying to suppress certain views'
A number of supporters of Italie's fight attended the press conference, including Kevin Blair, an organizer for the Farm Labor Organizing Committee in Florida; activists in the Miami Coalition to End the U.S. Embargo of Cuba and the Antonio Maceo Brigade; and other workers and young people.

Andrés Gómez, national coordinator of the Antonio Maceo Brigade, stated, "It's important to coordinate this effort and make it national. It's outrageous for a candidate to be fired and deprived of his job for expressing political views. This action by Goodwill is a dangerous one."

Sidney Royal, a retired health service worker who is Black, stated, "It's only certain views this company is trying to suppress." The company doesn't want workers to oppose the U.S. war on Afghanistan and anti-Arab chauvinism, he said.

Italie said that although the general election is over, the fight against the political firing has just begun. The mayoral race will continue with a runoff election on November 13 between two wealthy Democratic politicians, Maurice Ferré and Manuel Díaz.

The previous Saturday night, November 3, some 40 people turned out for a special Militant Labor Forum to protest Italie's firing. Volunteers began showing up at Italie's campaign offices early in the afternoon. Heather Page, 20, and Aldo Nahed, 24, who have been involved in the fight from the start, helped paint banners and signs and set up the meeting hall. Two students, Marcos and Janetsi Cutrera, showed up with their father, Tony Cutrera, a Puerto Rican worker who is a supporter of the Cuban Revolution. Tony and Janetsi, a high school student, helped translate defense literature while Marcos, a sophomore in college, designed a display of media coverage on the case and then videotaped the evening program.

The crowd included other young people who had attended one or more of Italie's campaign events on campus. Participants also came from an ad hoc coalition that has called several protests against the U.S. war against Afghanistan; the Miami Coalition to End the U.S. Embargo of Cuba; and Alianza Martiana, a grouping made up mostly of Cuban-Americans who oppose the U.S. embargo against the island.  
 
Part of assault on working class
Ernie Mailhot, a meat packer from Seattle and a leader of the Socialist Workers Party, noted that the Goodwill bosses' firing of Italie is part of the assault on workers' rights that is accelerating as Washington escalates its imperialist war against Afghanistan. To achieve its goal of imposing a stable U.S. protectorate in that Central Asian country, he said, Washington "is going to have to use ground troops. As they bring back bodybags, they will try to whip up a patriotic war campaign to a high pitch."

The most important resistance to the U.S. rulers' war aims, Mailhot said, is the working-class struggles that are unfolding around the country, from the strike by meat packers in Toppenish, Washington, to the protests against police brutality in Florida. In targeting workers like Italie, he added, "what the bosses are concerned about is this resistance that's beginning among our class."

Mailhot, who was active in the workers movement in Miami for more than a decade, recalled that he himself was fired from Eastern Airlines in 1987 after running for mayor of Miami on the Socialist Workers ticket. He received the support of his co-workers and his union and won his job back. Two years later, workers at Eastern waged an important battle against the company's union busting.

Italie explained that Goodwill had sent workers home early the day of his first news conference, held October 29 outside the plant, so they wouldn't be able to talk to him or the press. "They went to workers in my old department individually and told them not to take any of my literature." The company sent guards and supervisors out to instruct workers to refuse Italie's handouts. Most workers ignored the order.  
 
Response to mayor's charge of 'treason'
The socialist candidate responded to a statement by incumbent mayor Joseph Carollo that Italie's ideas are "treasonous." Italie said such a statement is an attempt to intimidate anyone sharing his views. "The advocacy of ideas--including socialist ideas--is not a high crime punishable by law. I call on the mayor to retract his statement and for all the other mayoral candidates to join me in that demand," he stated.

"My party filed a lawsuit in 1973 against FBI spying and disruption. In more than 40 years of spying, they were never able to prove a single illegal act on the part of the Socialist Workers Party. Through the lawsuit, on the other hand, it was proved that the government's secret police had flagrantly violated constitutional rights."

The audience watched a set of videos prepared by Nahed of the three television stations' coverage of Italie's fight. Orlando Collado, representing the Miami Coalition to End the Embargo of Cuba, told those present, "This is an attack not just on Michael, but on the working class. Michael's views did not interfere with his performance of his job."

Also speaking was Max Rameau, representing Brothers of the Same Mind, an organization in the Black community that is fighting the state of Florida's denial of voting rights for former prisoners. Earlier that day, Italie and members of Brothers of the Same Mind joined a protest against the police killing of Alphaeus Dailey, shot in his wheelchair earlier this year.  
 
Firefighters' case
Rameau pointed to the similarities between Italie's case and that of three firefighters in this city who are Black--William Clark, James Moore, and Terry Williams. The three were removed from their jobs and placed on paid leave shortly after September 11 when they removed a large U.S. flag from their truck. They said the flag was obstructing their view and noted it was a symbol of the oppression of Blacks and others. Rameau said it was a victory that the three firefighters were recently recalled to their jobs.

Heather Page spoke about what she has learned about "democracy" in the United States through the war in Afghanistan, Italie's firing, and other events. "I was brought up thinking I was free," she began. "As I got older I saw the injustices this government carries out.... We're not free. They're not sticking by any of the rights they say we have.

"They would like us to think that this reality cannot be changed. Go out and tell people we're not powerless."

Sherie Bevel, a student at Florida International University South and chairperson of the campus Philosophy Club, spoke in a similar vein. "Keep speaking out!" she urged Italie. "Let's let young people know it's their birthright to speak and think."

Juan Carlos Zamora, representing the Alianza Martiana, called for Italie to "exercise his right to speak his mind without fear."

Supporters agreed to meet the following Thursday to draw up a plan of action to win broader support. More than $400 was raised for the defense effort in cash and pledges.

A number of supporters of Italie's fight have begun circulating a petition, which was presented and discussed at the November 3 forum, to demand that the Miami mayor and city commissioners put pressure on Goodwill Industries to reinstate Italie. Among the dozens of initial signers are eight workers at a meatpacking plant in Ft. Lauderdale. Several of these workers signed even though they do not share Italie's stance on the U.S. war in Central Asia or on the Cuban Revolution.

Italie was fired October 22 a few days after participating in a televised candidates' forum at Miami-Dade Community College, attended by 400 students and faculty. He was the only candidate to present a working-class platform and speak out against the imperialist invasion of Afghanistan.

Goodwill CEO Dennis Pastrana told the Miami Herald in an October 30 article that Italie was fired "to preserve the integrity of the flag that we produce...without having influences in our organization that are contrary to the American way of life." The company, which calls itself a nonprofit establishment and received federal subsidies, manufactures military uniforms and U.S. flags. It is notoriously antiunion and pays many workers well below the minimum wage.  
 
A constitutional firing?
The firing and the decision by Italie and his supporters to protest the political victimization have sparked a growing debate in the media and political circles.

In an article in the October 31 Miami Herald, the president of the Greater Miami chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, was quoted as saying, "Employees don't have a First Amendment right to express their political views if they work for private employers. Employers have a First Amendment right to associate with people who have political opinions they approve of." Her assertion echoed Goodwill's position.

On November 6 the Herald printed a letter to the editor from Marc Silverstein of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. "This political firing is a complete violation of our First Amendment rights," said Silverstein. The local ACLU chapter "has decided not to support Italie because it says it is not unlawful for an employer to fire a person for his or her political views. This is clearly unjust and must be changed. All civil libertarians and people concerned with free speech and the rights of workers should support Italie's campaign today."

John Due, an attorney and longtime civil rights activist, issued a statement objecting to the local ACLU chapter's stance. "We cannot permit so-called private organizations, such as Goodwill, which is a public charity with federal tax exemption, which has a license from the city and county to operate, to hide behind claimed private property rights to chill the expression of free speech. To claim that such a case is not winnable is the same excuse used by the Justice Department for failing to protect the human rights of civil rights activists in Mississippi in the 60s."

On November 7 the Herald published an article, titled "Forced patriotism is oppression," by columnist Robert Steinback, who has frequently written on issues of civil liberties and Black rights. Steinback wrote, "Italie's firing, in a word, stinks.... He was fired for what he chooses to believe" (see 'Forced patriotism is oppression').

The same day, radio commentator Francisco Aruca discussed Italie's firing during his popular morning program on Radio Progreso. Italie called in to speak about his fight and answer a few questions by Aruca. Several people who heard the program later called the Socialist Workers campaign offices to express their support.

A talk show host in Ft. Myers, Florida, called Italie after hearing the program, and arranged to do a live interview with him November 10.

Statements demanding Italie's reinstatement and donations to cover the costs of this campaign for justice should be sent to the Committee to Defend Freedom of Speech and the Bill of Rights, P.O. Box 510127, Miami, FL 33151-0127.
 
 
Related article:
Back fight of Miami candidate  
 
 
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