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THE MILITANT
Vol.65/No.45            November 26, 2001

Socialist candidate in Miami wins support in fight against
  political firing
(front page)

BY CHARLES HUNTER

MIAMI--"This firing is outrageous. I'll be at the Thursday
night defense committee meeting," said Alexander Lopera, a
young organizer for the Service Employees International
Union (SEIU), when he learned about the political firing of
Michael Italie, the recent Socialist Workers candidate for
mayor of Miami.

Lopera had met Italie at a recent Miami Jobs with Justice
meeting, where the socialist garment worker was talking with
union members about the First Amendment free speech fight.
Young people like Lopera have been among the most outspoken
supporters campaigning against the Socialist Workers
candidate's unconstitutional firing.

"This is an issue worth fighting for," Lopera added. "Youth
are in the forefront of this battle and people should listen
to what young people have to say." The SEIU member joined a
team at Florida International University gathering
signatures on petitions to protest the firing and passing
out literature produced by the Committee to Defend Freedom
of Speech and the Bill of Rights.

Another young fighter, Heather Page, joined Italie passing
out leaflets to workers at the plant gate in front of
Goodwill Industries where he had worked as a sewing machine
operator. Page helped petition for support at Miami Dade
Community College. She is also joining the socialist
candidate at a national meeting of Young Socialists and
other political activists in Chicago the weekend of November
17-18 to report on the defense effort and encourage support.

Goodwill Industries of South Florida fired Italie from his
job as a sewing machine operator October 22. The company
action came a few days after the socialist appeared on
television in a debate with other mayoral candidates before
some 400 people at Miami-Dade Community College in which he
stated his opposition to the U.S. war in Afghanistan, his
defense of the Cuban Revolution, and his support for
union-organizing efforts.

Italie appeared on the evening news after the campus debate,
and for the next two days supervisors on the job began to
ask him about his campaign. Four days after the debate,
Italie's supervisor called him into the personnel office.
There, the mayoral candidate was told by a company manager:
"I have been assigned to tell you that because of your views
of the U.S. government, you are a disruptive force and
cannot work here any longer. Get your belongings and go."

Goodwill chief executive officer Dennis Pastrana
acknowledged that Italie had been fired because of his
political statements, telling the Miami Herald October 30
that "we cannot have anyone who is attempting to subvert the
United States of America" work at the plant. The company
does not claim Italie was fired for his conduct on the job,
such as quality of work, interfering with production, or for
talking with co-workers.

On the radio program "Sound Off" based in Fort Myers, Italie
said supporters of the fight to defend the First Amendment
"are winning a hearing from working people for the right to
advocate views contrary to the policies of the government."
The host, Sasha, invited Italie to speak after hearing him
earlier in the week on the Francisco Aruca radio program in
Miami. Aruca is a well-known opponent of the U.S. embargo of
Cuba and supporter of a normalization of relations between
the two countries.

On the "Sound Off" program Italie explained that his firing
comes in the context of other attacks on democratic rights
in Florida and around the country. "The U.S. Congress has
passed new legislation," said Italie, "that makes it easier
for the FBI and other government agencies to spy on and
harass opponents of government policy, in particular
demonizing immigrants and targeting them for harsher
restrictions on their rights."

Black firefighters win reinstatement

The socialist candidate added that in Miami a victory was
won when three Black firefighters recently returned to work
after a nearly two-month suspension for objecting to placing
a large American flag on the truck they were assigned to.
"These three firefighters--Terry Williams, James Moore, and
William Clark--stood up to a storm of criticism and false
press reports," stated Italie, "and showed the courage and
determination all workers and farmers will need as we speak
out against racism and war, and in defense of our right to
oppose government policy in this country and around the
world."

In early November the Miami-Dade Fire Department cleared all
three of any wrongdoing and the three returned to work.

Opponents of the U.S. embargo of Cuba expressed their
support for this free speech fight at meetings of the
Alianza Martiana, a largely Cuban group in Miami. At a
November 9 meeting, Andrés Gómez, who is a leader of the
Antonio Maceo Brigade, introduced Italie to some 50
participants.

"Michael Italie has a long history of speaking out in
opposition to the embargo of Cuba and other hostile U.S.
acts against Cuba," said Gómez. "As the Socialist Workers
Party candidate for mayor of Miami, Mike defended the Cuban
revolutionary process and he deserves our support."

Italie explained to the meeting that Goodwill fired him not
just for his opposition to the U.S. war in Afghanistan and
his support of the Cuban Revolution, "but because I speak
out about the importance of workers organizing unions to
advance their conditions and rights on the job." Goodwill is
a notorious antiunion company, said Italie, "In fact they
take advantage of loopholes in the minimum wage laws to pay
many workers as little as $1, $2 or $3 per hour. These
bosses don't like any workers who speak up for their rights;
they view us as a challenge to their power and profits."

At the meeting Alianza Martiana activists collected 45
signatures on Committee to Defend Freedom of Speech and the
Bill of Rights petitions that call on the mayor and city
commissioners to "throw the full weight of the Miami city
government behind Michael Italie's demand that his unjust
firing be reversed and that he be reinstated to his job at
Goodwill Industries."

A truck driver at the meeting told Italie that he carries
around a clipping from El Nuevo Herald about the socialist
campaign as a tool to tell other workers about the fight
against this political firing. He noted that El Nuevo Herald
only has had this one brief article on the socialist
campaign.

In order to make Goodwill Industries pay the highest
possible political price for the firing, supporters of
Michael Italie will be taking to the streets during the
annual Miami bookfair, handing out fact sheets and
gathering petitions against the firing.

"Winning the support of individuals as well as organizations
is critical to maintaining momentum in this fight to defend
workers' rights," Italie reported to the first meeting of
the Committee to Defend Freedom of Speech and the Bill of
Rights. The Miami committee has produced a "truth kit" with
a fact sheet and press coverage on the firing and a
statement that can be signed by those wanting to defend
Italie's rights.

The fact sheet is now available in English, Spanish, and
French. To receive this packet, to obtain other information,
and to send urgently needed contributions, contact the
Committee to Defend Freedom of Speech and the Bill of
Rights, P.O. Box 510127, Miami, FL 33151-0127. Tel: (305)
724-5965. Checks should be made out to the Free Speech
Defense Fund.

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