Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in setting goals for a 20 percent ship emission pollution reduction by the year 2010 for all carriers that call at U.S. ports. He also noted that the efforts in Los Angeles have piqued the interest of the mayors of Seattle and Oakland.
Pension security for working people
Rep. George Miller (D-CA) mirrored our concern on pension security. Miller is outraged that corporate CEOs have written pension plans for themselves that cannot be taken away, but have no problem breaking the promise to their workers for lifetime benefits. Miller has introduced legislation to prohibit the practice of setting up two tiers of pension plans—one for the company bigwigs and another for the workers.
Delegates at the Conference lobbied to protect longshore pensions from being adversely affected by legislation currently being considered by Congress. An ILWUsupported amendment to the Pension Protection Act would protect the ILWU/PMA plan from reductions in benefits. The legislation is now in the hands of negotiators in the House and the Senate where we continue to lobby to retain the ILWU provision.
Universal healthcare push
To tackle the health care issue, we invited Joel Segal, Legislative Assistant to Representative John Conyers (D-MI), Jo Ann Volk, health care lobbyist for the AFL-CIO, George Romero, benefits specialist for the ILWU, and Kyle Weimann, Legislative Assistant for the ILWU, to participate on a panel to discuss and debate these important issues.
The ILWU has long advocated high quality comprehensive universal health care coverage for all Americans. We believe that health care is a basic human right, one of a civilized society’s central precepts. Rep. Conyers has introduced the United States National Health Insurance Act establishing a publicly financed, privately delivered health care system. It would use the already existing Medicare program, improving and expanding it to all U.S. residents and all residents living in U.S. Territories. This bill absolutely fits into the principles enunciated throughout the history of the ILWU. We are still studying it and may suggest amendments to make it a more feasible program to put into practice.
No to health savings accounts
Delegates also discussed and lobbied on our union’s opposition to health savings accounts. People who create these accounts are permitted to save a portion of their income in a special tax-free shelter, to be withdrawn to cover medical expenses. These accounts are then combined with high-deductible health insurance. On the most basic level, these health savings accounts destroy the risk-pooling system of insurance we have used since the days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal. Sick Americans become consumers of health services instead of patients, forced to worry about the costs of every procedure and test their doctors recommend. Individuals are left to bargain with hospitals alone instead of with the bargaining power of a large, comprehensive health insurance plan.
Fair trade, not “free” trade
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) addressed the Conference on a number of topics, including the insane trade policies the U.S. has adopted. He began his speech by announcing, “We have the best government money can buy.” And he’s right. Corporate money bought trade policies that devalue human work and allow multinational corporations to scour the earth searching for cheap labor and no regulations on their ability to foul up the environment.
We lobbied to put the brakes on free trade policies. The ILWU is not immune from job losses caused by trade policies. In anticipation of CAFTA implementation, Del Monte Fresh in Hawaii announced it was leaving Hawaii, abandoning the 800 workers and their families who have served it well in search of cheap labor overseas. Del Monte will be expanding its operations in Costa Rica (a CAFTA country) rather than continuing to employ Americans in the production of pineapple.
Employee Free Choice Act
We were particularly pleased that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, addressed the Conference. She made a promise to the ILWU that if she becomes Speaker in November, she would place the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) on the floor of the House. The Act would greatly help the ILWU and other unions organize workers, strengthening the protections for workers’ freedom to choose by requiring employers to recognize a union after a majority of workers sign cards authorizing union representation.
Prevailing wage law
Last, the ILWU lobbied to protect the sanctity of the Service Contract 2006 ILWU Legislative Conference—cont. from page 2 Act. This Act is similar to the DavisBacon Act for construction workers in that it protects the prevailing wages for workers providing services to a government agency. The National Park Service has decided this act does not apply to them and has refused to apply it to the contract for ferry services for service to Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay. Members of the Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific, the Marine Division of the ILWU, work aboard the Blue and Gold Fleet taking passengers and National Park service workers to Alcatraz. The National Park Service recently awarded this contract to a non-union employer, Hornblower, which refuses to pay union wages and to recognize the unions providing services to the island. As a result of lobbying by IBU Regional Director Marina Secchitano, Sen. Barbara Boxer (DCA) placed a hold on the nomination of David Bernhardt the for Interior Dept.’s top attorney position to try to influence the National Park Service policy. We continue to monitor this situation and work to protect the jobs of these workers by lobbying for the sanctity of the Service Contract Act.
We ended the Conference with a debriefing and a chance for every delegate to get up and speak about the need for ILWU political action. I want to take this opportunity to thank the delegates listed below for the outstanding job and service they performed on behalf of the ILWU. If you have a chance please talk to these members and ask them what you can do to advance the ILWU agenda. ◆