The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 69/No. 28           July 25, 2005  
 
 
Unionists back Militant Fighting Fund
 
C.W. Mining, owners of the Co-Op coal mine in Huntington, Utah, has filed a harassment lawsuit targeting union organizations and individuals involved in or supporting the fight of the workers there to organize into the United Mine Workers of America. The charges include unfair labor practices and defamation. Among those being sued for defaming C.W. Mining are three newspapers—the Militant, and Salt Lake City’s main dailies, the Tribune and Deseret Morning News—that have covered the union struggle at the mine.

The Militant Fighting Fund was launched to help defend the Militant, a prominent target of this legal assault because of its record of backing and reporting the truth about the miners’ battle for a union. Below are reports on how support is building. Endorsements and contributions to the Militant Fighting Fund $60,000 campaign can be sent to P.O. Box 520994, Salt Lake City, Utah 84152.
 

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BY FRANK FORRESTAL  
LOS ANGELES—Ricardo Icaza, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, is one of the newest endorsers of the Militant Fighting Fund here. The local sent a $100 check for the fund. UFCW Local 770 represents almost 30,000 workers at Albertsons, Ralphs, and Vons grocery stores in California. Alberto Valdivia, secretary-treasurer of the United Teachers of Los Angeles, sent a letter of support as well. Earlier this year Valdivia wrote an article in support of the fight at Co-Op in the union’s newspaper, United Teacher.

Angela Sanbrano, executive director of the Central American Resource Center, wrote, “CARECEN stands together with those fighting this attempt to intimidate the workers and their supporters in the press. We urge the C.W. Mining Company to cease their action immediately.” Sanbrano played a key role in the late 1980s in exposing the FBI’s covert spying operation against the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador and other groups.

In opening his weekly KPFK 90.7 FM radio program on July 7, Jim Lafferty, host of the Lawyers Guild Radio Show, emphasized the “critical importance” of the Militant Fighting Fund’s campaign to defeat the C.W. Mining harassment lawsuit. Lafferty’s guest was Paul Mailhot, organizer of the Militant Fighting Fund in Salt Lake City.
 

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BY STEVE WARSHELL  
HOUSTON—Support has been won here among those who see the need for free speech and freedom of the press in support of the rights of working people. Sam Horvath, a member of the United Steelworkers Local 5702 negotiating committee at the Kaiser plant in Gramercy, Louisiana, added his name to the endorser list, as did Rev. Diana Dale and the Houston Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice; Duane Bradley, general manager of Pacifica radio station KPFT in Houston; Henry Cooper of the radio program “Proyecto Latinoamericano”; and Ray Hill, a gay rights activist and radio show host for “The Prison Show.”

In Austin, the Prisoners Rights Support Network wrote, “We urge other groups and individuals to support the struggle of the Co-Op miners and to defend the First Amendment rights of the media, support groups, and individuals from being silenced for covering the workers’ struggle and for speaking out against the harassment and intimidation by C.W. Mining.”

The statement was signed by Raúl Salinas, a well-known leader of the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee. He was also a prison cellmate of longtime Puerto Rican independence fighter Rafael Cancel Miranda.

More than $2,500 has already been pledged locally and $1,100 sent to support the work of the Militant Fighting Fund.
 

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BY DAN FEIN  
NEW YORK—The executive board of Laborers Union Local 79 in New York City voted at its June meeting to endorse the Militant Fighting Fund.

A few days before the executive board meeting, supporters of the labor defense campaign met with John Delgado, a staff member for the local who has been a strong supporter of the Co-Op coal miners’ organizing battle. Delgado took literature about the lawsuit and helped secure the endorsement of the union’s leadership. Local 79 has been prominent in organizing efforts among construction workers here.  
 
 
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