What you need to know about the “right to work for less”

There are 22 states which have a so-called “Right-To-Work” law which prohibits agreements between unions and employers which require workers to pay union dues as a condition of employment. In these states, workers in a unionized workplace can not be required to become union members nor pay union dues. Yet these workers would get all the benefits under the collective bargaining agreement negotiated by the union without having to pay any of the costs to support the union’s operations.

Former ILWU International Secretary Treasurer and Local 26 President, Joe Ibarra, passed away on February 11th. He was 69 years old. Joe’s life was celebrated at a memorial service on March 4th in San Pedro, CA by family, friends, and his union brothers and sisters. Joe was remembered for a lifetime of outstanding service to workers and for his dedication to social and economic justice for all people.

Grocery stores are selling the thawed, previously frozen bread which comes from the mainland on the same shelves as the fresh baked bread produced by Love’s Bakery. Because of higher profit margins, many grocery chains are giving the frozen bread the best shelf positions and pushing the locally produced Love’s bread to the bottom shelves.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for assuring that foods sold in the United States are safe, wholesome and properly labeled. This applies to foods produced domestically, as well as foods from foreign countries. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) and the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act are the Federal laws governing food products under FDA’s jurisdiction.

Vice President Joe Biden spoke to thousands of union members in a virtual town hall conversation hosted by the AFL-CIO on March 17, 2011.

“You can’t have a strong middle class without unions, without organization, without organized labor. “You guys built the middle class,” said Biden.

“I would just emphasize what Hilda [Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis] said and say it slightly different: We don’t see the value of collective bargaining, we see the absolute positive necessity of collective bargaining.

Hawaii celebrated the Martin Luther King Day holiday with a parade through Waikiki and a rally at Kapiolani Park in Honolulu. The holiday honors Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister from Montgomery, Alabama, who was one of the leaders of the civil rights movement to end discrimination against Black Americans, and who spoke eloquently against poverty and the US war in Vietnam.

ILWU Local 30 members took the opportunity this holiday season to thank the supporters and unions which enabled the union to win a hard-fought victory for a fair union contract with Rio Tinto, the owners of the Borax Company.

In 1925, borate deposits were discovered near the town of Boron, California. Pure borate deposits are extremely rare and the Boron mine produces nearly half of the world’s supply of borate. Borate is an essential ingredient used to make household and commercial products such as soap, detergents, paint, glass, ceramics, and fertilizers.

Data collected by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization (UHERO) shows a surprisingly strong recovery in tourism which is lifting other sectors of the Hawaii economy.

There were strong increases in arrivals and spending of both international and domestic visitors.

Oahu enjoyed the biggest increases, but Maui also saw significant growth in arrivals. This data does not include the 4th quarter of 2010.

In 2008, world refined sugar prices averaged slightly less than 16 cents a pound. In 2009, prices began a steady climb and ended at nearly 30 cents a pound in December 2009. In 2010, world refined sugar prices dipped to 21 cents but by the end of the year prices hit a thirty-year high of 34.78 cents a pound.

Alexander & Baldwin (CIK: 0000003453) is the parent company of Matson Navigation and Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company (HC&S). The company’s 2010 Third Quarter Report to the US Security and Exchange Commission showed a slight decline in container volume to Hawaii but a huge increase in shipping to China.