A very important benefit of union membership goes far beyond your job. You are now a member of a workers’ organization—dedicated to defend your interests as a worker and to promote the general welfare of you and your family.
This is spelled out in the ILWU Declaration of Principles:
“An injury to one is an injury to all”—this slogan is used at many ILWU activities. This means we stand together as workers.
As a member of the ILWU, you belong to an organization with a long and proud history in Hawaii, the West Coast, and Canada. The ILWU is respected and admired within the labor movement in the US and around the world. Community and political leaders appreciate how the ILWU improved the lives of the entire community. Employers respect the ILWU as a strong, yet reasonable union.
These two pages of the VOICE reprints parts of a booklet made for hotel workers union in the Philippines by the International Union of Food and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF). The principles expressed in the booklet are identical to those of the ILWU. This tells us that workers and unions have the same goals no matter what country they live in.
Contract negotiations is a good example of ILWU democracy in action. Unit members meet to propose changes to their union contract and elect members to their negotiating committee. The union negotiating committee should include members from different departments and job classifications. While committee members may come from different departments or jobs, they should work for a contract that is best for the entire membership.
Union members should think of negotiations as a continuing process that doesn’t end when a new contract is approved. Members need to read and understand their contract, so they know their rights. Unit officers and shop stewards must be alert to make sure management follows the terms of the contract and members get the full benefits they are entitled to receive.
lower house. Those elected included a number of union members who were encouraged to run for office. The Democratic majority in the legislature repealed many of the anti-labor laws and passed a law that gave agricultural workers the right to unionize. In 1954, Democrats won 55 of 76 elections, giving them a majority in the house and senate.
ILWU Local 142 President Isaac Fiesta, Jr. announced the union’s endorsement of Mufi Hannemann at a press conference on March 9, 2010. The ILWU’s statewide Political Action Committee made the decision to endorse Hannemann after meeting with both Mufi Hannemann and Neil Abercrombie on March 2, 2010. (L-r) SecretaryTreasurer Guy K.
The University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization (UHERO) collects and analyses economic data for the State of Hawaii. The following is their latest forecast on March 26, 2010.
Over 900 employees of Honolulu’s two daily newspapers have no idea if they will have a job. The people who write the news became the news when they learned about their fate in a press release issued by their employers.
On Feb. 25, 2010, Gannett Company and Oahu Publications, Inc. (OPI) announced in a joint press release that The Honolulu Advertiser would be sold to OPI, a company controlled by David Black. Black’s company already owns the Honolulu StarBulletin, which it purchased in 1991, and the Mid-Week Magazine.
Local President
Isaac Fiesta, Jr.
The Local Convention completed its work in September of 2009 and adopted programs that will guide us for the next three years. My goal is to carry out the work of the Convention and the Constitution and Bylaws of Local 142.