A statewide longshore industry caucus was held in Honolulu on March 14-15, 2002. Forty-five leaders from Hawaii, Maui, Kauai and Oahu Divisions participated in this meeting to draft and discuss negotiation proposals.

“In unity there is strength.” Or sometimes we say— “United we stand, divided we fall.” We have a lot of different ways of expressing this idea that unity and strength go together. Even our own slogan—“An injury to one is an injury to all”—is based on this principle. “The union makes us strong.” This is a concept that working people have no problem understanding. They understand that a single worker is powerless to bargain with his or her employer for good wages and working conditions.

On the eve of the Longshore Contract Caucus the employers threw down the gauntlet—Pacific Maritime Association CEO Joseph Miniace, in a story planted in the shipping industry publication the Journal of Commerce, declared he wanted major changes in work rules and a complete revamping of the arbitration process or he would lock out the union.

HONOLULU—Outstanding work should be recognized, and that is exactly what Oahu Division did as they honored some very deserving members and retirees at a special Division Executive Board dinner meeting on February 15, 2002.

The presentation itself was a group effort—Division Director Ray Camacho would announce the category; the business agent of the unit involved would present the award; and the recipient would often say a few words of thanks.

HILO—Hawaii Division pioneered the Unit Awards banquet as a big social event that would involve members and their families and give public recognition to “model” units for their outstanding union performance. The first awards banquet was held on January 27, 1978, in the Crown Room of the Naniloa Hotel, and was attended by 225 members and their spouses. Nine units were given “best units” awards for their “effective union operation at the individual company level.” Two unit editors were also recognized for winning a statewide excellence award for two-years in a row. 

Security will be the operative word for the second session of the 107th Congress. Whatever Congress does or does not do will be done in the name of providing Americans with increased security. The sticking point will be how security is defined and what it will cost—both in terms of dollars and civil liberties. Congress has already shown it has no problem acquiescing to President Bush and his ultraright attack dog Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Not content to let Enron screw its workers and other unionists holding pension fund investments with impunity, President Bush has invoked a seldom used parliamentary procedure to appoint the blatantly anti-worker Eugene Scalia to the Department of Labor. Bush acted Jan. 11, 2002 to install two conservative nominees, sidestepping the Democratic-controlled Senate. Scalia, son of ultra-conservative Supreme Court Justice Anton Scalia, was installed as Solicitor for the Labor Department and Otto Reich was installed as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere affairs.

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.