Congratulations on negotiating and ratifying a new statewide agreement in this COVID era...

“With COVID, everybody’s lives changed, the world stalled, but Union work never stops,” said Local Vice President and Foodland’s negotiation co-spokesperson Corinna Salmo Nguyen. “It was not easy to negotiate a statewide contract with all of the new safety regulations we had to get used to, but as a Union, we work together for a common goal, and that always gets the job done.”

Nguyen shared spokesperson duties with Oahu Business Agent Dillon Hullinger, who could draw on his experience not only as a Business Agent but as a former rankand-file Foodland member himself, to advocate on behalf of the desires of the Foodland membership at the negotiating table.

In addition to the spokespersons, the Union team would not be complete without the rank-and-file negotiating committee made up of members like you.

There are over 25 Foodland stores statewide, so negotiations require a strong network of union leaders on the job to keep communication open with their membership and be aware of any concerns they may want addressed in their updated contract.

Even in the face of COVID’s unpredictable twists and turns - in the form of anything from safety guidelines to economic challenges – this committee was united by a common desire to help their fellow workers.

As proven by the success of the negotiation and ratification of their new contract, it is a powerful thing to be of service to others.

Thank you to the negotiating committee of Foodland for not giving up even in the midst of obstacles presented by these challenging times.

“To me, it doesn’t matter so much if they vote yes or no. It matters to me that they showed up to have their say, because democracy needs participation,” said negotiating committee member Jaslyn Laurito (seated off camera) as members started to come in to vote at the Union Hall in Honolulu in the photo above. Members were given a week’s notice for this opportunity to vote and approve or reject the settlement the negotiating committee -- made up of members like you and the Local spokespersons -- came to agreement on with management. Unit Secretary Ruby Shimabukuro took every member’s temperature as they came in before she and Jaslyn explained the tentative agreement to them so they could vote with full understanding. The contract is only a “tentative agreement” until members vote to make it official. This is another part of ILWU democracy which requires membership approval for all contract settlements.

(L-R): Unit Secretary Ruby Shimabukuro (#1 Market City), Unit Chair Annie Dickinson (#27 Pupukea) and Unit Vice Chair Kapono Keliikoa (#37 Kailua).

ILWU seeing it thru...The process of meeting and discussion over contract proposals by each side -- the Union and management -- can take weeks or months. During this process, the original proposals can change as both sides must compromise to reach an agreement. For example, the union may ask for a 6% wage increase, then the company may counter with a 2% increase, and the final agreement may be a 4% increase. The unit first started the negotiation process in November 2019 -- right before COVID started taking hold. Much of the progress the committee made with management on coming to new terms of agreement had to be revisited and renegotiated because of the completely new circumstances COVID presented for the workers and the economy in general.

Among one of the biggest adjustments that had to be made with COVID was the way these meetings took place. Usually the committee meets in person, with outer island members flown into Honolulu to meet at the union hall. In these times, however, all neighbor island committtee members tuned in via Zoom, and even the Oahu members had to stagger into separate rooms in the Honolulu Hall to accommodate safety guidelines. Pictured here are two separate rooms the Hall set up for negotiations held on October 21, 2020.