Members at the caucus Front L-R: Emmanuel Baltazar (Maui Business Agent), Annie Dickinson, Chair (#27 Pupukea), James Villegas (#19 Mililani), Sierra Delgado (#24 Pukalani), Dona Hamabata (#8 Kaneohe), Anabel Cardenas (#18 Dillingham), Ruby Shimabukuro (#1 Market City), Jaslyn Laurito (#8 Kaneohe), Cindy Caravalho (#38 Waimea), Local President Donna Domingo. Back L-R: Jason Vallejo (#43 Kapolei), Kapono Keliikoa (#37 Kailua), Lee-Ann Decosta (#1 Market City); Dillon Hullinger (Oahu Business Agent); Lori Kikuyama (#19 Mililani); Roselyn Molina (Big Island Business Agent); Deedra Ferreira (#41 Keeau).
HONOLULU — Foodland is one of the biggest employers of our members in the ILWU and is the largest locally-operated super market chain in Hawaii. They employ over 800 of our members.
There are 36 different locations across the state. Thirteen rank-andfile members spent July 18-19, 2019 at the Oahu ILWU Hall to discuss and finalize their demands and proposals for contract negotiations with the company coming up in the fall.
A range of responsibilities
In addition to doing their regular Foodland jobs (anything from bunching your green onions in grocery to processing stock in the warehouses in receiving), these members volunteer their time to do union business like this.
Before an old contract expires, union members at the company are asked for their input and ideas on what to change in the contract.
These members form the negotiating committee, and most of them have been meeting regularly since as early as April to streamline their ideas.
A democratic process
The members in attendance represented different locations across the state to ensure the discussions would address a broad variety of workers’ concerns so as not to overlook anyone when it comes to putting together a set of demands that reflects the whole. This is a big part of ILWU democracy, and a good reason to show up to your unit’s union meetings: your participation can directly influence the contract.
Mahalo to these members who understand that working together creates a stronger union, and that a stronger union means stronger contracts that benefit their fellow workers. If you have questions about how to get involved at your unit, see the back page for how to get in touch!
Front L-R: Jazmin Kanani Numata from Longshore, Rob Ashton (ILWU Canada President), Darian Agan (Unit 3515 Halele’a Spa) and Rhonda Morris (Unit 3511 Grand Hyatt) from Kauai, Jennifer Yadao (Hawaii Division Business Agent), Local Vice President Corinna Nguyen, Roselyn Molina (Hawaii Division Business Agent), Jennifer Kaaihue (Maui Longshore). Back: Corin Kekua (Oahu Division Representative) and Jasmine Young-Gusman (Unit 4420 Straub Clinic) from Oahu at a march for solidarity with workers at a local Canadian credit union .
VANCOUVER — This year’s SIUW (Summer Institute for Union Women) was held from July 2-6, 2019 at the University of British Columbia.
This week-long institute is exclusively for women. This year the Local sent a delegation of nine women representing nearly all the divisions.
The Local makes it a point to send women to this every year if possible because one cannot ignore the fact that gender inequality affects every aspect of life, including labor.
Their topics of study included classes on Collective Bargaining, Leadership, Humanity and Social Justice, and Organizing.
They put theory to practice on one of their last days in a march in support of workers who were on strike at a credit union.
The credit union company recently decided to cut pensions off as a benefit for all new hires. The pension of the current workers would not be affected, yet the current workers felt the need to protest on behalf of the new hires anyway.
Unions often say the phrase: “An Injury to One is an Injury to All.” When people make the choice to walk the talk like this, they embody principles that will outlast any injustice.
