A coalition of five unions, representing several thousand unionized civilian workers employed by the U.S. Department of Defense, have formed a coalition to protect their rights and protest a plan they say would destroy the federal civil service system.

One issue dominating union contract negotiations in every industry around the country—healthcare benefits. No one has anything like security in their lives if a sudden illness or catastrophic accident can wipe out their family’s savings or they can’t get the medical attention they need and face death because they can’t afford help.

On March 31, 2003, the Department of Labor (DOL) proposed a regulation that would make millions of workers ineligible for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. DOL plans to issue a final regulation later this year. Legislation introduced by Representatives Peter King and George Miller would stop the Administration from implementing any regulation that takes away workers’ right to overtime pay.

A new law passed by the Hawaii State Legislature allows workers to use their own sick leave days to care for their seriously ill child or other family member. The law took effect on July 1, 2003, and applies to all employers with 100 or more employees.

George Bush and his administration are pushing another trade deal which threatens to destroy more U.S. jobs. The “Free Trade Area of the Americas” is expected to be finalized in 2004 and be fully implemented by the end of 2005. The agreement is with 31 countries of North, South, Central America
and the Caribbean (Cuba was not invited to participate).

Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc., the parent company of Del Monte pineapple operations on Oahu, reported record sales and profits for the first quarter of 2003. In a press release issued on April 29, 2003, the company announced a record breaking $107 million in gross profits from sales of $643.8 billion in the first quarter of 2003.

A weak economy, accounting irregularities like overstating profits, too much debt, and growing too rapidly has led to record levels of corporate bankruptcies in 2001 and 2002. There were 257 corporate bankruptcies in 2001, a record for the largest number of bankruptcy filings in a single year. In 2002, there were only 187 filings but the value of the assets involved, $368

Hawaii ILWU members received the May 2003 Dispatcher instead of the April issue of the Voice of the ILWU. This is a one time occurrence and was necessary because the May Dispatcher contained important information about the upcoming International Elections.

Preliminary data on visitor arrivals from the State’s Department of Business and Economic Development and Tourism show a
dramatic and ominous decline in tourism numbers since the U.S. war on Iraq. The decline in visitors from Japan is most
dramatic, dropping by an average of 34 percent since March 19, 2003 when the U.S. began to bomb Iraq.

HONOLULU—Worker representatives from nine ILWU organized auto dealers met for two days at a state-wide caucus in Honolulu on May 29-30, 2003, to talk about common problems they face as workers in the auto industry and to propose changes to strengthen the language in their union contracts. They were also joined by the full-time business agents who service auto units.

The caucus was chaired by Richard Desmond, from Schuman Carriage, and secretary Kenneth Ige, from Servco Pacific.