HONOLULU—Former Oahu business agent Benito “Benny” Apostadiro passed away on January 22, 2002, at the age of 76. Benny Apostadiro became a member of the ILWU when he got a job at the Ewa Plantation in 1954. Like almost all new sugar workers, Benny’s first job was on the poison gang, a crew that walked through the sugar fields and sprayed chemical to control the weeds.
From the very beginning, Benny was active in the union, serving as the union steward for his gang from 1954 to 1958. Benny proved to be an exceptional leader, and by 1959 he was elected to the top union position as unit chairman at the Ewa Plantation. Benny also advanced within the company, and in 1960, he entered the trades progression program to be trained as a machinists. He completed the program and was certified as a machinist in 1969.
A year later, in 1970, Benny was elected as an ILWU Oahu Division Business Agent and left his job at the Ewa Plantation to begin serving fulltime in the union. For the next 21 years, Benny served as an ILWU business agent until his retirement in 1991.
Even with all the time and demands required of a business agent, Benny found time to father and raise 15 children, and engage in his favorite hobby—raising and training chickens.
Benny was also active in the Oahu Division Political Action Committee, and found a large family had its advantages. When it came time to walk house-to-house in support of ILWU endorsed candidates, Benny often arrived with a large crew of “volunteers”—his many children and grandchildren.
Benny Apostadiro had one of the most important skills every ILWU leader needs, a sense of humor. When times were tough or when meetings became heated, Benny was always ready with a joke to lift up your spirits. But Benny could also be counted on to speak up for basic union principles and point out the best solution to the problems.
Benny’s daughter, Charlene Richardson, reflected on Benny’s life at a memorial service on February 6, 2002, that packed the Mililani Mortuary Mauka Chapel and overflowed to the courtyard outside.
Charlene recounted the words of the doctor who attended Benny during his final days. The doctor had never seen so much support and love for one man. “Who was he? What kind of work did he do?” asked the doctor. Charlene explained that Benny was a loving man, generous and humorous, who taught them to help those who can’t help themselves, to stand up for human rights and justice, to be humble, and to know your roots. “Everything he did was from his heart,” she said.
We gain political power through our union—continued from page 2
Action Committee that interviews these candidates, keeps track of their records, and make recommendations on who would be best to support. This is why members are urged to vote for union endorsed candidates— to make our votes count and to elect candidates who will work in the best interest of working families.
The next most important time and place to use organized pressure is during the Legislative Session. Once these people are elected, they have the power to make laws that can improve our lives and standard of living. Or they can just as easily pass laws that cut benefits and take away needed government services and programs. This is where business and other special interest groups spend a lot of time and money. They have their lawyers study the law and introduce legislation that suits their interests. They give testimony at hearings. They hire professional lobbyist to make the rounds and talk to legislators. And they reward their friends by making contributions to their campaign funds. Business groups are well organized—and they make sure that every legislator knows exactly what business wants.
On the other hand, individual workers and unorganized voters are at the biggest disadvantage during the Legislative Session. Individual workers don’t have the time and resources to draft laws, give testimony at hearings, talk to elected officials, and move bills through the legislative process. But Union Political Action gives working people the power and resources to do all of this.
Every year, the ILWU puts together a Legislative Program that tells politicians what working people want. Our Legislative Program now has 101 items that range from controlling the cost of prescription drugs to protecting the job security of workers when a company changes ownership.
We don’t leave these politicians to their own designs. We tell them these are the programs and issues important to us. We ask them to introduce bills. And we tell them to vote against bills that are no good. Union Political Action gives workers the power to influence the legislative process.
Finally, organized political pressure must be used to reward our friends and punish our enemies. This is where we need to prove that the union endorsement means something. This is where our Political Action Committees need to bring out members and pensioners to support the re-election of our friends in the Legislature. This is where we do signwaving, go house to house, and talk to other members about the need to organize their political power through the union. This is where we need to prove our members are organized by turning out the vote for union endorsed candidates.
If we can’t deliver the votes, then the Union has no political clout and politicians can ignore the Union’s program. Politicians will see our talk about strength and unity is just empty talk.
On the other hand, if the union can deliver the votes at election time, then we show the politicians that union members are united and are organized. This is political solidarity and it is the source of union political power.
Economic and Political Power go together
“The union makes us strong”—is true on the job and in politics. Our members need to understand that economic and political power go hand in hand. This is where we need your help—to get this message to the members in your units.
As you all know, this is a very important political year, because reapportionment has put all seats up for election. We have not yet made an endorsement, but the governor’s race will probably be the most critical.
We need you to help organize political action committees in every unit. We need you to help register more members and their family members to vote. And while it is still too early to talk about supporting particular candidates, we can start educating our members today about the need to be politically organized through the union.
We win a contract fight and we improve conditions for a few hundred workers and their families. We pass a good piece of legislation and it affects the lives of hundreds of thousands of people for many generations.
There are many, many examples of how Union Political Action made it possible to organize the votes of individual union members into a powerful force. There are many, many examples of how this political force was used to bring tremendous benefit to working families. A statewide school system that spread out the funds to ensure that neighbor island kids, especially in areas like Ka‘u or Hawi, had access to free, public education. Loans that kept the sugar industry in business a little longer, then extended unemployment benefits for sugar workers who lost their jobs. Land use and zoning codes to protect our environment, shore lines, and visitor industry. Increases in benefits paid to injured workers under workers compensation, extended unemployment insurance, an increase in the minimum wage. The list goes on and on.
We need to remind our members that some of the greatest advancements and contributions made for working families by the ILWU was when we combined the political and economic struggle.