“We get to wake up every morning and go to work for the people. That’s a privilege, and a serious responsibility.” This is how President Chris West opened the 2025 Full-time Officers Training - the first in the new triennium focused on education to strengthen the union from bottom to top. 

The rhetoric around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is everywhere. Politicians and pundits claim that DEI is “divisive,” “woke,” or even “anti-American.” They argue it gives “special treatment” to certain groups or is part of some Marxist agenda. 

For years, contract negotiations at Local 142’s tourism units followed a familiar pattern: management set the pace, and workers fought for whatever small improvements they could get. Beginning in 2022 and solidifying in 2024, ILWU Local 142 members have changed course. Across multiple bargaining tables, workers leveraged their unity, strategy, and sheer determination to win historic gains—reshaping expectations for what’s possible in contract fights.

Wailea Breaks Maui Mediocrity

Washington D.C. The weather was frigid but the team was on fire. For three days in early February, the ILWU Hawaiʻi International team hit the pavement in Washington D.C. meeting with all four Hawaiʻi Congressional representatives to advocate for Hawaiʻi’s working-class.