HONOLULU—Oahu Division held its annual unit recognition awards night on February 21, 2003 after its Division Executive Board (DEB) meeting. The DEB meeting was the first held in the newly renovated ILWU union hall at 451 Atkinson Drive.
According to Division Director Raymond Camacho, the awards are a way of “recognizing the volunteerism of units and members that is so vital to the union’s success.”
ILWU longshore members on Oahu hold a stop work ratification meeting on January 31. The longshore negotiating committee (left) explains the terms of the contract before members vote.
The ILWU will hold its 32nd International Convention this year in San Francisco from April 28-May 2. The delegates you have elected from your locals will be entrusted with setting the direction our union will take in the next three years.
The year 2002 will become a major part of the ILWU legend. Looking back, it is difficult to fathom how the ILWU remains strong given the array of forces lined up to destroy this union.
HILO—Gusty winds and heavy rain failed to dampen the spirits of several hundred Hawaii Division members and retirees who packed the ILWU Hall in Hilo for a night of fellowship, tasty food, and hot music on February 15, 2003. They gathered
for the 26th Annual Recognition Night to celebrate and a select group of ILWU units for their outstanding contributions to their membership and to the trade union movement.
HOLLYWOOD, Fl (PAI)—Labor Secretary Elaine Chao thought she had an open and honest session with the nation’s union leaders Feb. 26. Putting it mildly, they disagreed.
After the closed-door meeting the conservative Republican Labor Secretary held with the AFL-CIO Executive Council in Hollywood, Fla.,federation President John J. Sweeney took to the press conference podium and called the session “unbelievable.”
In his Christmas Day message, Pope John Paul II called on all religions and on all people of good will to avoid war and build
peace instead. In particular he talked about the building conflict in the Middle East. In his New Year’s address in January the
Pope again repeated that military force must be the very last option and a war would be “a defeat for humanity.”
Noriko “Nikki” Sawada Bridges Flynn, former ILWU President Harry Bridges’ wife for the last 31 years of his life, died Feb. 7 at age 79 from complications of a chronic illness. But Nikki was much more than the spouse of a legendary labor leader—she was a civil rights activist and poet in her own right, an orator with quick wit and a sharp tongue.
Are you a new employee, hired within the last 12 months? If so, this issue of the Voice of the ILWU was prepared especially for you. As a union member, you are entitled to many rights and benefits and some responsibilities. This issue will help get you started with the essential information you need as a member of the ILWU. (Even longtime members may find the information useful.)
Higher wages, better benefits, and good working conditions are the most obvious advantages of being
organized in a union.
Based on data collected by the U.S. Department of Labor in September 2002, union workers earned an average weekly wage
of $788, while non-union workers earned 27 percent less, or $622 a week. The union advantage in wages alone is $166 a week. Figure 1 compares wages for union and non-union workers by occupation. The data is from 2001.