The ILWU Local 142 is proud to join over 20 unions in endorsing and supporting Mufi Hannemann for Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu.

The ILWU’s relationship with Mufi Hannemann goes back almost 20 years when he was working with C. Brewer and helping us lobby the US Congress to protect Hawaii’s sugar industry and the jobs of thousand’s of Hawaii sugar workers. We were impressed with his knowledge of the governmental process and his commitment to the people of Hawaii. In particular, we were impressed with his ability to work with all kinds of people to get the job done.

In 1986, the ILWU was one of the first unions to endorse him for the U.S. House of Representatives. This was a seat vacated when C. Heftel decided to run for Governor. Unfortunately, Mufi lost that race to Pat Saiki, but since then, Mufi has shown us that he has never given up his vision nor his desire and commitment to serve the people of Hawaii.

The decision to endorse Mufi Hannemann was made by our Oahu Division Political Action Committee. Members of that committee include the Oahu Division Director, a chair appointed by the division director, and representatives from Oahu Division units.

The committee interviewed both candidates and had them fill out a questionnaire which asked them to state their position on 32 issues that were important to the union and our members. There was lively debate on the committee as both candidates had their supporters. In the end, the committee voted to endorse Mufi.

Some of the things that swayed the committee members were Mufi’s honesty and openness. He wasn’t afraid to state where he disagreed with the union, but he was willing to keep an open mind and invited the union to discuss the issue further.

Mufi Hannemann has a solid and proven record on issues important to working families, a wide-range of experience, and a rare commitment to public service.

These are the qualities of good leadership that make Mufi Hannemann the best candidate for the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu. ◆

(Foreground, l-r) ILWU PBX operator Jennifer Alviar, Local Vice President Donna Domingo, and librarian Pamela Mizukami.

The foundation of the ILWU—continued from page 2

negotiate better and cheaper prices from the drug manufacturers, the Bush plan actually forbids Medicare from dealing directly with drug companies. This means drug manufacturers are free to raise prices and charge as much as the market will bear for their drugs.

Instead of cutting costs by eliminating the middle man and having Medicare administer the program, the Bush plan will require senior citizens to buy their prescription drug plans from private insurance companies. This means senior citizens will end up paying for the profits and administrative fees of private insurance companies on top of the costs of the drugs.

This is the real reason why the new Medicare drug program is so expensive—most of the money will go to drug and insurance companies as profits and very little will go to you as a new benefit. Because of this extra expense, the Bush Administration is now telling us that Medicare may go broke by the year 2019.

Takes from the Poor 
President Bush’s Medicare drug plan takes a little from each of us and gives it to the drug and health insurance companies as profits. This is just one of many way the Republicans and President Bush is stealing from the poor and giving to the rich. Bush’s tax cut was nothing more than a giveaway to the very wealthy. His changes in overtime rules will allow management to deny overtime pay to millions of workers. Bush changed environmental rules to allow companies to continue polluting. Bush has busted unions in the federal sector and is looking at other ways to weaken unions and give bosses more power over workers. And the list goes on and on. This is why we have made it our priority to get rid of President Bush this November 2004.

With your help, we are going to beat Bush and elect a president like Democrat John Kerry, who will undo the damage caused by George W. Bush and put America back on track. Local 142 officially endorsed Kerry at our April 2 Political Action Committee meeting. We remember your lesson to “reward our friends and punish our enemies.”

Retiree Medical 
Before I conclude my remarks, I would like to tell you about some of the things we are doing to help our retirees with the high cost of prescription medication. Our last ILWU Local 142 Convention in 2003 adopted a plan to set up a union sponsored health benefit program for retirees which would subsidize the cost of their prescription drugs. This is not a solution to the high cost of drugs—it is only a small step forward, but it shows our commitment to help our retirees.

The benefit would be provided by what is called a Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association Trust (VEBA for short). It would be funded by our units who would pay a monthly contribution of $3.00 per active member. There was a lot of heated debate about the plan by Convention delegates. But the debate was never about whether we should do the plan or not. There was 100 percent agreement that we have to help our retirees and a drug benefit was one way to help them. The debate was more around how to win the support of our members who will be asked to pay for the plan.

In the end, our Convention delegates voted unanimously to support the plan. The next step is to hold unit membership meetings and secret ballot votes to approve the use of unit funds for this purpose. In most cases, this will also mean an increase of unit dues by $3.00 a month. We set a deadline of November 1, 2004, to get units with at least 9,000 members before the trust fund becomes a reality. If we succeed in getting the vote, then the plan should be able to begin providing benefits to members who retiree in 2005.

It will not be easy to get members to support a $3.00 a month increase in unit dues. But I am confident that ILWU members will come through and demonstrate their support for their retirees. This is something we have to do, because retirees need all the help we can give them to make health care more affordable. It is also the right thing to do, because we owe so much to our retirees.

Current Retirees 
The VEBA Trust is for future retirees. To help you and other current retirees, we are working to pass legislation in the Hawaii State Legislature. We are supporting a number of bills that were introduced by our friends in the Legislature. I’m sure you will hear more details about these bills from other speakers.

Heart and soul of this union 
In closing, the ILWU has accomplished a lot of good for our members and for this community, and we owe it to you—because you built a union with a strong and solid foundation for us to stand on; because you taught us the principles of rank and file unionism; and because you set the example of good leadership.

Once again, I want to thank you and the Pensioners Association for all you have done and continue to do, to help this union, our members, and our community. Thank you. ◆