“An injury to one is an injury to all”—this slogan is used at many ILWU activities. This means we stand together as workers.

As a member of the ILWU, you belong to an organization with a long and proud history in Hawaii, the West Coast, and Canada. The ILWU is respected and admired within the labor movement in the US and around the world. Community and political leaders appreciate how the ILWU improved the lives of the entire community. Employers respect the ILWU as a strong, yet reasonable union.

Historians credit the ILWU with organizing a powerful, industry-wide, interracial union which made it possible for Hawaii to become a modern democracy with the highest standard of living of any Pacific island.

• The ILWU is respected for its internal democracy. The members run the union. There has never been top-down leadership where the union is controlled by a few powerful individual officers. All top officers are elected by direct vote of the membership. 

• The ILWU is known for honesty and integrity. There has never been a taint of corruption of any ILWU leader. ILWU members have the power to remove any officer who misuses their position. The wages of ILWU officers are set by members who meet in Convention every three years. The Convention approves the union’s budget and programs. Members serve as trustees and watch every expense the officers make. ILWU dues are among the lowest of any union and ILWU officers earn far less than the officers or other unions. 

• The ILWU is respected for its commitment to civil rights and racial equality. The ILWU was the first union to successfully organize workers of all races into a union. Hawaii’s employers divided workers by race and the only way the ILWU could succeed was by fighting against discrimination of any kind. When the employers tried to use the government and the courts to break the union, the ILWU survived by fighting to protect the Constitutional and civil rights of working people. 

• The ILWU is known for its active involvement in political action that has improved the life of the whole community and not just its own members. The ILWU has worked to fund rural hospitals, increase funding for public schools, improve roads, protect the environment, provide social services for the needy, and increase the minimum wage. ILWU members live on every island and work in every industry. Lifting the standards for the whole community also brings up the standards of ILWU members. 

• The ILWU is respected for its progressive view that workers of the world share a common interest and unions should work for world peace. The ILWU has its roots in the longshore industry which is based on global trade. ILWU members understand the need for international solidarity. Only employers profit from war, while workers are the soldiers who fight and die in war. The ILWU took a lead in opposing the wars in Vietnam and Iraq.

 • The ILWU is known for its militancy and ability to fight for its membership but is ready to work cooperatively with reasonable employers for the long-term survival of an industry. The ILWU has negotiated some of the best contracts of any union. However, ILWU members have also agreed to defer wages and benefits to help employers get through tough economic times.

 • The ILWU is respected for upholding union principles and labor solidarity. The ILWU has always worked to unify the labor movement and has good working relations with all unions. 

The ILWU has always organized the unorganized to bring the benefit of unionism to all workers. The ILWU has such a diverse membership because it organized in every industry where workers wanted and needed to be unionized. The ILWU was founded as a progressive, democratic, rank-andfile union. These principles are embedded in our union’s culture and traditions and guide our daily activities. These principles are written into the Constitution and Bylaws of our union.

Rights and responsibilities of members

Every ILWU member should be taught to see a steward or unit officer first about problems or concerns on the job. They should be advised never to try to settle their problems with management by themselves.

There are four reasons for this: 1) the member will not have the strength of the union behind them; 2) the member may make a deal with management that could hurt other members or even be a violation of the contract; 3) the member is not trained to handle the grievance properly and may miss time limits and make other mistakes; and 4) it weakens the union because management knows that workers who bypass the union are not strong union members and will use these workers to divide the union.

Members should be advised to “work first and grieve later.” This means a member should obey their supervisor’s order and do the work, even if they believe it is a violation of the contract or unfair treatment. They could politely inform their supervisor that they will be seeing their union steward about the matter.

There are only three exceptions to “work first and grieve later”—if the job is dangerously unsafe, illegal, or immoral. You should protest to the boss and offer to do something else. You still risk being disciplined for insubordination, but if the job was really unsafe, illegal, or immoral, the discipline will probably not be upheld.

Members should be educated that they have the right to ask for a union representative when management calls them into a meeting or asks them questions which could lead to disciplinary action. This includes a telephone call from the boss. This is called Weingarten Rights. Once the member asks for a union representative, the company should stop the discussion, and the member should not answer any more questions. The company can call any steward available—the member cannot insist on a particular unit officer or business agent. When a union steward arrives, the member should consult with the steward first, but the company can continue the questioning.

The union contract isn’t enforced by the steward alone or by the business agent. The individual member is just as responsible as anyone else for seeing that the contract is enforced. In fact, unless members know their rights under the contract, the officers and stewards cannot possibly do their job.

Specifically each member should: 

1. Know the terms of the contract so that they can recognize violations by the employer and help other workers learn about the contract. 

2. Call all violations of the contract to the attention of the steward. 

3. Assist the steward in every way to find all the facts about a given violation or grievance. 

4. Go with the steward or business agent, if asked, to see the supervisor. In these meetings, the individual member should follow the tactics agreed upon in advance, let the steward or business agent do most of the talking, and be prepared to support them with the facts when called upon. 

5. Recognize that sometimes their grievance is not a good one and that the steward is correct in refusing to handle it. It may not be a good grievance because the member doesn’t understand the contract. If the steward fails to convince the member that his grievance is a poor one, the member has the right to speak to the unit officers or business agent. 

6. Attend union meetings and volunteer for union political action. Read the union bulletin board, The Voice of the ILWU, and help make and carry out union policy. 

7. See to it that the members who work beside them are good union members too; that they are members in good standing; that they attend union meetings, and do their part in building the union.

Need a copy of your contract? Contact your Business

 Agent.

Hilo: (808) 935-3727 • Honokaa: (808) 775-0443 
Kona: (808) 329-2070 
Lihue: (808) 245-3374 
Wailuku: (808) 244-9191 
Honolulu: (808) 949-4161