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.
“Let’s get something straight: The only people who have the capacity — organizational capacity and muscle — to keep, as they say, the barbarians from the gate, is organized labor. And make no mistake about it, the guys on the other team get it. They know if they cripple labor, then the gate is open, man. The gate is wide open. And we know that too.”
“You already made sacrifices. Granted we all have to make more, but sacrifices relate to what every other American has to do to get this economy going does not relate to basic, basic human rights.
“Everyone of us, we fought too damn hard, my grandfather, my parents, your parents have fought too hard to make sure we had a voice at the table.
“And it’s you, it’s labor. If anybody wearing a white collar who is not labor, if anybody wearing a blue collar who is not labor, think there is any possibility they would have the safety, security, rights they have but for organized labor.
The Barbarians “I find this ridiculous. The very philosophy, the very conservative people who got us in this ditch, who created — through their greed — this orgy of focusing on the super wealthy and Wall Street without regulations, the very people who drove us into this ditch, are now the people using you guys as the scapegoats.
“This is what you call blaming the victim. The people of the neighborhoods we all grew up in and you guys live in, organized labor, they’re the very people getting killed right now by this economy. And the audacity these guys that come along and say, ‘Hey, this is the fault of collective bargaining’—that is malarkey.”
ILWU donates thousands for Japan disaster victims
Local 142 Executive Board approved a $15,000 donation to aid Japan disaster victims at their meeting on March 25. The Local 142 Longshore Division acted to donate an additional $2,500 and ILWU units are being asked to make donations of their own. Oahu Divisions full-time officers agreed to donate at least one day of their wages to victims of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Northern Japan on March 11, 2011.
ILWU Bouslog scholarships now for UH and community colleges
If you are an ILWU member or retiree, your child or grandchild may be eligible for a scholarship!
The Harriet Bouslog Labor Scholarship can help ILWU families fund a college education for their children. The application process has been simplified and requires an application, a video interview of the ILWU member, and a short essay. Deadline for applications is May 1st of each year. Applications and brochures for the Scholarship are available at all ILWU Division Offices and through the Local.
To qualify, students must be high school seniors planning to attend the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hilo or West Oahu or a community college in the UH system. In response to many inquiries, this is the first year that students planning to attend a community college will be eligible to apply.
Plan for next year
If your child or grandchild is not yet a senior, it’s not too early for them to prepare their applications for next year or the year later.
Scholarships will be awarded to a total of 10 high school seniors each year, but recipients may receive benefits for up to eight semesters, provided they continue to attend a UH campus as a full-time student in good standing.
Award amounts
Scholarship awards are: $2,000 per semester for UH Manoa; $1,000 per semester for UH Hilo or UH West Oahu; and $750 per semester for a UH community college.
With college tuition increasing every year, parents need to consider every way to finance their child’s education. The Bouslog Labor Scholarship was established by Harriet Bouslog and her husband, Stephen Sawyer, specifically to benefit ILWU families and to encourage attendance at the University of Hawaii. Please encourage your members with children graduating from high school this year to apply.
The ILWU Hall in Lanai City gets a face lift and some much needed repair work. The Hall serves as an important meeting place for the small community of 3,500 people on the island of Lanai. Most of the workers of Lanai are employed by the ILWU-organized Four Seasons Resort Lanai— including the Lodge at Koele and Manele Bay Resort—or for Castle and Cooke’s Shuttle Drivers or Heavy Division. Many retirees worked for Dole Pineapple Company.
