Key races to note...

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Workers at Columbia River Veterinary Specialists (CRVS) in Vancouver, Washington ratified their first union contract on August 12 by an overwhelming margin of 53-1. These workers have been bargaining a contract with CRVS management for over a year, after voting to join the ILWU Local 5 in February 2019.

Photo from the Queen’s North Hawaii Community Hospital Technical Unit ratification of their first contract on June 2, 2020. Pictured clockwise from left are negotiating committee members Sheryl Weinstein, Tom Pinkert, Hawaii Division Director Elmer Gorospe, Organizer Colleen Antonio, Business Agent Tristie Licoan and Local Lead Organizer Ron Clough.

If the current pandemic has taught us anything, it is that we cannot take anything for granted. In these challenging times, many gained a newfound appreciation for the quiet courage of the humble grocery store worker. Their hard work, once so easy to overlook because it is so commonplace and necessary, is now being recognized as crucial to our frontlines.

In addition to our union brothers and sisters working at Foodland stores statewide, we also have hardworking members in Sack N Save markets on the Big Island, Maui, and Oahu. When you visit one of these Sack N Save stores, you will be supporting some of the 200 Sack N Save employees in our union who have been on the frontlines since the start of the outbreak. Mahalo to our members for helping their community make it through these challenging times with their dedicated service and commitment to safety. Here are some of the faces and experiences of our resilient members.

1) Your Local Titled Officers President Donna Domingo, Vice President Corinna Nguyen and Secretary-Treasurer Brian Tanaka assisting with assembling food boxes with volunteers from Kaiser at Oahu’s first food drive at the ILWU

Dave Mori was a man of few words, but he “walked the talk.” Instead of talk, he believed in action and never asked anyone to do anything he would not be willing to do himself. His work ethic was unquestionable, his integrity unparalleled, his heart was enormous. Dave retired as Oahu Division Director in 2013 and passed away on July 3, 2020. Dave was my beloved husband of 43 years.

“This is a movement!”

said ILWU International President Willie Adams, who was invited to speak from the fl atbed truck by Local 10 and 34 leaders as thousands of marchers assembled to commemorate Juneteenth on a sunny morning outside the Port of Oakland’s SSA Terminal.

“Young people are taking to the streets all over the world. They are militant; they are smart, and they are marching without apology,” said Adams, who was accompanied by International Secretary-Treasurer Ed Ferris and International Executive Board member Melvin Mackay.

be taking part in this coast-wide shut down on Juneteenth. Canada’s hands are not clean either, in the past or the present. We also had slavery; there was the internment of Japanese Canadians, the incident of the Komagata Maru and the residential schools. In the present day we have the missing and murdered indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) and we see systemic racism in Canadian society.”

ILWU Canada Grainworkers Union Local 333 honored Juneteenth by stopping work for 9 minutes on June 19 in solidarity with West Coast port shutdown.