The Free South Africa Labor Committee (FSALC) started as part of an umbrella group, the Bay Area Free South Africa Movement (BAFSAM). BAFSAM grew out of the refusal of members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Locals 10 and 34 to unload the Nedlloyd Kimberley at Pier 80 in San Francisco for eleven days in November 1984 because it...
The Free South Africa Labor Committee (FSALC) started as part of an umbrella group, the Bay Area Free South Africa Movement (BAFSAM). BAFSAM grew out of the refusal of members of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Locals 10 and 34 to unload the Nedlloyd Kimberley at Pier 80 in San Francisco for eleven days in November 1984 because it was carrying South African cargo. The Pacific Maritime Association went to federal court to get an injunction to force Local 10 to unload the ship. FSALC picketed other ships with South African cargo as well as the office of the Pacific Maritime Association. Eventually, Nedlloyd Lines stop bringing South African cargo to West Coast ports. FSALC left BAFSAM and operated independently. FSALC worked with locals and labor councils throughout the Bay Area, passing numerous resolutions supporting the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) and the African National Congress (ANC). FSALC organized a labor conference in San Francisco that resulted in a labor network at ports up and down the Pacific Coast that organized pickets in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver, Canada. FSALC held demonstrations against trade with South Africa. FSALC formed union-to-union links with both SACTU and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), and it provided support for the Shell Boycott. FSALC also published a newsletter. (Source:
Work a Day for Freedom!: A short history of the Bay Area Free South Africa Labor Committee by David Bacon, February 6, 2008;
West Coast Meeting to Stop South Africa Trade, San Francisco, California - August 24, 1985 available on this website; and David Bacon, former chair of FSALC.)
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