The ILWU’s first contested election in 18 years has yielded a new leadership team led by International President Willie Adams, Vice President (Mainland) Bobby Olvera, Jr., and Secretary-Treasurer Ed Ferris. Incumbent Wesley Furtado was re-elected to a sixth term as International Vice President (Hawaii).

“I’m grateful for this opportunity to help lead the ILWU with a dynamic new team,” said Adams, who became the Union’s 7th International President and first African-American to occupy the union’s top post. The transition came after International Executive Board members voted to approve reports from the ILWU’s Balloting and Election Procedures Committees by a decisive 16-5 margin.

Relatively close vote
 (Editor’s note: to see tally numbers see https://www.ilwu. org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ DispatcherNOV2018lores.pdf). The tally shows a relatively close vote for International President, with Adams winning by 393 votes over former International Vice President (Mainland) Ray Familathe. The contested election was the closest since 1991 when Local 13’s Dave Arian defeated Local 24’s Randy Vekich by 248 votes in an election that also involved challenges which had to be resolved before a winner was declared.

Election objections 
The ILWU Constitution includes rules for how union elections must be conducted, along with due process rights for members and candidates who wish to file objections if they believe those election rules were violated.

Challenges to voter eligibility are rst considered by members of the International Balloting Committee (IBC). Challenges to the conduct of the election are considered by the International Election Procedures Committee (IEPC). Both bodies were constituted and approved by delegates at the ILWU International Convention that met on June 4-8, 2018, in Portland. Members of the Balloting Committee were Tina Luzken (Chair) of Local 142, Allen Fung of Local 34 and Fred Gilliam of Local 91. The IEPC members approved by the 2018 Convention Delegates were James Daw (Chair) of Local 8, Julie Brady of Local 13 and Harold Ugles of Local 19.

September ballot count 
The IBC met in San Francisco on September 6 to examine and count the ballots. They issued their report on September 10 and provided it to all affiliates. 

Objections filed 
The IEPC met October 1 – 4 in San Francisco to consider challenges and responses filed by thirteen ILWU members. The Committee analyzed these challenges and concluded that they involved seven different issues.

They addressed each of the issues in a 12-page report that was provided to all ILWU affiliates on October 15, 2018. The following is a summary of those IEPC findings:

Summary of objections 
The first issue involved whether the IEPC had been properly constituted and approved by the International Convention. After reviewing the Convention transcript, Committee members denied this challenge because it was determined that the issue was not timely raised, as the International Convention was the only proper time and venue to raise this issue.

The second issue was whether the ILWU had responded properly to concerns raised in an August 11, 2018 letter by brother Alvaro Moreno of the Panama Canal Pilots Union. His letter stated that ballots had not yet arrived in Panama, and requested that the union provide for in-person distribution of mail ballots. The IEPC denied brother Moreno’s challenge because there is no provision in the ILWU Constitution for in-person distribution of ballots, which the IEPC determined, had arrived in Panama prior to August 9. It was further determined that there was interference by representatives of SINTRAPORSPA in the collection, handling and return of ballots.

The third issue was whether a group of ballots which arrived from Panama in a cardboard shipping box should have been processed for counting before their challenged status was resolved. The IEPC rejected this challenge after determining that the procedures for processing had been followed, and that the group of challenged ballots had been improperly collected by a SINTRAPORSPA representative at the Panama post office, then handled and mailed back together in a shipping box, in violation of ILWU Election Rules.

New Team: International President Willie Adams (seated on left) assumed his new role beside outgoing President Bob McEllrath after a new group of officers were sworn-in on October 30th. Standing (L-R) are Vice President (Hawaii) Wesley Furtado, Secretary-Treasurer Ed Ferris, Vice President (Mainland) Bobby Olvera, Jr., and Coast Committeemen Cam Williams and Frank Ponce De Leon.

The fourth issue was whether insufficient or improper pre-paid postage was provided on return envelopes for ballots mailed from Panama to the United States. The Committee considered evidence, including communication with U.S. Postal Service and Panamanian postal officials who confirmed that the prepaid postage envelopes provided were properly endorsed for pre-paid delivery from Panama to the United States. Based on this and other evidence, the IEPC denied this challenge.

The fifth issue involved a claim that members in Panama had been denied their right to vote as a result of their ballots being challenged. This challenge was denied, along with an admonition that the ballots were properly challenged because they had been improperly collected, handled and returned by a SINTRAPORSPA representative in violation of the ILWU Constitution.

The sixth issue involved whether the William Adams Campaign had violated Article 22 of the ILWU Constitution which prohibits the ILWU International or Local names or logos from being used for political or other activities without authorization, and whether the Adams campaign improperly used the ILWU logo and improperly campaigned on ferry boats. An additional challenge was made concerning how member phone numbers were obtained for robo-calls placed by the Adams Campaign. Evidence presented showed ILWU logos had been used by other candidates and on social media posts. It was determined that campaigning on ferry boats occurred prior to the issuance of July 5, 2018 memo which clarified that the practice was improper. The Committee found no implied endorsement or support by a local or officer of a local for any candidate that had the ILWU logo displayed on social media posts. The Committee also found no evidence was provided to show that either violation had affected the election outcome. Concerning the robo-calls and how phone numbers were obtained, the Committee found this challenge had not been filed in a timely manner. As such, the above-referenced challenges were denied by the Committee.

The seventh issue involved a request by members of the Panama Canal Pilots Union, some of whom maintain home addresses in both the U.S. and Panama, to have their ballots mailed to the U.S. home address instead of Panama. The Committee found merit to this challenge, noting that the request was not followed. While the Committee upheld this challenge, it also noted that the violation did not affect the election outcome as only ten members were impacted by the error.

Executive Board has final say 
On October 29, the ILWU International Executive Board met in San Francisco where they reviewed both the Balloting and Election Procedures Committee reports, heard debate from all sides, then voted by 15-to-6 to accept both reports and certify the election results.

“We realize that this was a close election and will begin the healing process by respecting all points of view and encouraging everyone to come together and move forward,” said President Adams.