Are You a New Member?

Are you a new employee, hired within the last twelve months? If so, this issue of the VOICE of the ILWU was prepared especially for you. As a union member, you are entitled to many rights and benefits and some responsibilities. This issue will help get you started with the essential information you need as a member of the ILWU. Even longtime members may find the information useful.

Then this is for you!

First of all, the VOICE of the ILWU is the official newspaper of the ILWU Local 142. You are receiving the newspaper because you are now a member of the ILWU. Your membership in the ILWU started when you were hired into your job. At the time you were hired, you signed a form which allows for the automatic payment of union dues by payroll deduction. This form also serves as an application for membership in the union

The company you work for is a unionized company, which means all workers covered by the union contract must also become members of the union. This is only fair as all workers covered by the union are equally entitled to the wages, benefits, and protection of the union contract. The workers who are part of the union are sometimes called “covered” workers or “bargaining unit” employees.

A few employees at your company are excluded by U.S. labor law from becoming members of the ILWU. These include supervisors, security guards, and certain professional and confidential employees. Employees who are excluded from the union are sometimes referred to as “nonbargaining” employees. While they are excluded from joining the ILWU, they can organize or join a different union.

In some companies, the ILWU may represent only one part of the workforce, such as only distribution or only clerical workers. The other workers may be represented by another union, or, if there is enough interest, could be organized into the ILWU. Call the ILWU Organizing Department if you know people who want to join the union. 

—More on pages 2,3, and 6

ILWU Longshore Caucus delegates vote to recommend tentative agreement to membership for ratification vote

SAN FRANCISCO – ILWU Coast Longshore Caucus delegates voted Friday to recommend approval of the tentative agreement reached on February 20, 2015, between the union and employers represented bythe Pacific Maritime Association (PMA).

The tentative agreement was approved on February 20 by the ILWU’s 16-member elected Negotiating Committee and 8-member Safety Sub-Committee. The proposed 5-year contract covers 20,000 dockworkers at 29 west coast ports.

All 90 delegates to the Coast Longshore Caucus spent this week reviewing the proposed agreement line-by-line, before voting by 78% to recommend the proposal on Friday.

“This agreement required ten months of negotiations—the longest in recent history,” said ILWU International President Bob McEllrath, “but we secured a tentative agreement to maintain good jobs for dockworkers, families and communities from San Diego to Bellingham. Longshore men and women on the docks will now have the final and most important say in the process.”

Copies of the agreement will be mailed to longshore union members, who will then have a chance to discuss the proposal at local union meetings. A secret ballot membership ratification vote will be the final step in the process. A final tally will be conducted on May 22.