Seattle, Washington will be the host city for the ILWU International Convention from June 8 to June 12, 2009. The Convention is the highest policy making body of the union and is held every three years, rotating through seven areas of the US and Canada where workers are organized by the ILWU.
Local 142 Hawaii will be sending about 120 delegates to the Seattle Convention. Local 142 is one of over 60 local unions, the Inlandboatmen's Union of the Pacific, and ILWU Canada which make up the International ILWU.
The Convention sets policy for the International ILWU and nominates candidates running as titled officers or members of the union’s executive board.
The election for titled officers and executive board members will take place by mail ballots. All ILWU members should receive a ballot shortly after July 29, 2009, and must return the ballots by September 10, 2009.
Statements from candidates and detailed instructions for the mail-in ballots will be printed in the July/ August issue of the Voice of the ILWU.
The Convention rotates through seven areas of the ILWU. In 2012 the Convention will be held in Southern California, then in Hawaii in 2015. Oregon/Columbia River will host the Convention in 2018, followed by Northern California in 2021 and Canada in 2024.
The Convention returns to Washington/Puget Sound/Alaska area in 2027.
Local 142 Convention to run four days instead of five
To reduce expenses during these tough economic times, the ILWU Local 142 Convention set for September 2009 will run four days instead of the usual five days.
The Convention will be held at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel in Honolulu.
In order to complete five days of work in four days, the Convention will schedule at least one night session and will adjourn later in the afternoon on Friday.
Neighbor island delegates will travel in the morning on Tuesday, Sept. 15, and the Convention is expected to be called to order at 11:00 a.m. Delegates will meet in committee sessions that afternoon and evening. Most committees should complete their work that evening.
On Wednesday, Sept. 16, the Convention will meet in general session from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Committees with unfinished business must meet Wednesday evening to complete their work.
On Thursday, Sept. 17, the Convention will meet in general session from 9:00 a.m. to about 1:30 p.m. The shorter session gives the hotel time to set up the meeting rooms for the banquet, which will be held Thursday evening.
The Convention may start at 9:00 or 10:00 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 18 and is expected to adjourn before 4:30 p.m. This allows enough time for Neighbor Island delegates to return home on flights between 6:00- 7:00 p.m.
Candidates for the Local president, vice-president, secretary- treasurer, and industrial grouping executive board members are nominated on Friday.
ILWU took lead for cleaner air
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in April 2009 that the United States and Canada have applied to the International Maritime Organization to create a 230-mile emissions control area around much of their coastline.
The move is intended to ensure the shipping industry does its part to improve the air quality of majorseaport communities. Ships moving through the zone would be subject to the tougher emissions standards.
The study is the first to estimate the maritime shipping’s total contribution to global air particle pollution based on direct emission measurements. The study estimate ships emit about 1,100 tons of particle pollution globally each year.
ILWU took action years earlier
Since 2001, ILWU longshore locals in Southern California and other areas took action to clean up the air in and around the ports.
Ships idling their engines while unloading and loading emit slightly higher levels of toxic fumes then when cruising at sea. ILWU crane operators were getting the highest exposure as they sit over 100 feet in the air, close to the ship’s smoke stacks.
Hundreds of trucks waiting to load and unload their containers also added to the air pollution around the ports.
In 2002, the ILWU raised the issue of air quality in negotiations with the Pacific Maritime Association.
In 2003, the ILWU successfully lobbied California for legislation that fined terminal operators if trucks had to wait in line longer than 30 minutes to load or unload. The industry found an easy solution by moving one-third of their operations to off-peak hours, which greatly reduced traffic jams and pollution.
A 2003 report by the Pacific Institute found that residents near the Port of Oakland, California, are exposed to diesel particles that are 90 times more concentrated than the state average.
California legislation that took effect in 2007 now requires ships to switch to cleaner fuel within 24 miles of port and for container terminals to control diesel exhaust from tractors, yard trucks, cranes and forklifts.
Maritime pollution
Large maritime vessels have diesel engines which can burn low-cost bunker fuel oil, but this fuel releases high levels of sulfur, nitrogen oxides, and black soot into the air.
Bunker fuel is cheap because it is basically the crud left over from crude oil after the gasoline and kerosene have been removed.
The amount of air pollution caused by container and passenger ships, ferries, and other maritime vessels was largely unknown until recently.
A newly released study led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Colorado at Boulder found that commercial ships emit almost half as much black soot into the air as the total amount released by the world’s cars.
The study is the first to estimate the maritime shipping’s total contribution to global air particle pollution based on direct emission measurements. The study estimate ships emit about 1,100 tons of particle pollution globally each year.
The study also found that tugboats were some of the worse polluters, emitting twice as much soot as any other vessel type. Air pollution from tugboats pose a greater risk to public health because tugs travel within ports, emitting potentially harmful particles near heavily populated urban areas.
Ship pollutants affect both global climate and the health of people living along coastlines, according to the study authors. The findings appeared on-line the week of Feb. 23, 2009, in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
“Since more than 70 percent of shipping traffic takes place within 250 miles of the coastline, this is a significant health concern for coastal communities,” said lead study author Daniel Lack, a researcher with the NOAA-supported CU Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences based at NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder.
Earlier research by one of the study’s co-authors, James Corbett of the University of Delaware, linked particle pollution to premature deaths among coastal populations.
Numerous studies have associated fine particulate matter, mainly from diesel, with a variety of respiratory and cardiovascular problems, ranging from aggravated asthma to irregular heartbeats, heart attacks and early death in people with heart or lung disease.
In 2005, the California Air Resources Board estimated that 750 of 9,000 premature deaths caused by air pollution were caused by particles such as black soot.
Pacific Beach Hotel boycott —continued from page 1
repeatedly violated the law and refused to bargain a first contract in good faith with the ILWU.
In December 2007, HTH fired workers who were among the most active union supporters and stopped negotiating with the ILWU. The company claimed the ILWU no longer represented the workers.
The local community was outraged over the anti-union actions of HTH management. Political leaders, Filipino organizations, and labor unions called for a consumer boycott of the hotel.
The ILWU filed numerous unfair labor practice complaints against the hotel with the National Labor Relations Board. In August 2008, after a long investigation, the National Labor Relations Board charged the hotel owners with 13 violations of the law.
Hearings over the charges started in November 2008 and concluded in February 2009. The Labor Board is expected to issue a ruling against the hotel soon.