• Support the existing statewide school system that ensures equalization of opportunity in education, especially for rural Oahu and the neighbor islands.
• Oppose school voucher programs.
• Support implementation of incentives (including teacher housing) to reduce teacher turnover in rural areas.
• Support programs for drug awareness, teen pregnancy prevention, family crisis intervention, etc. in the public schools and the community.
MAKAWAO—Fairmont Orchid, representing Hawaii Division, beat Team Kauai, representing Kauai Division to win the ILWU 33rd Annual State Basketball Tournament. The tournament was hosted by Maui Division and played at the Eddie Tam Memorial Center on Saturday, December 14, 2013.
Several elected officials attended the dedication of Ah Quon McElrath’s plaque at the Wisteria Vista Senior Apartments, including U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono, Senate Committee on Economic Development, Government and Housing Chair Donovan Dela Cruz, State House Committee on Housing Chair Mark Hashem, and Representative Marcus Oshiro.
PUUNENE, Maui—At its peak, sugar was the number one industry in Hawaii with hundreds of thousands of acres under cultivation on Kauai, Oahu, Maui and Hawaii island. By 2015, only Maui’s Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company (HC&S) remained of the industry once called “king,” and by the end of 2016 that last plantation will grind to a halt, ending commercialized sugar in the state.
The ILWU library is now online after a mass digitization project. The new site: http://archive.ilwu.org hosts digitized issues of The Dispatcher plus two other ILWU-related publications: the Voice of the Federation, and the Waterfront Worker. The site contains close to 2,000 documents, plus a handful of selected images from the ILWU Library’s collection of over 20,000 photographs.
Effects bargaining to begin
Because HC&S workers are covered by an ILWU contract, the company has a duty to bargain with the ILWU over the effects of the closure on workers. This is called effects bargaining.
The ILWU Local 142 is a diverse union, with members working in many different types of jobs in most major industries in Hawaii. Because of this diversity, and because the ILWU is concerned about issues that affect the entire community—there are more than a hundred points, or issues, covered by the ILWU’s legislative program.
The ILWU strongly supports all points in its legislative program, but will focus on this list of legislative priorities for the 28th Legislature.
All state lawmakers receive copies of both the ILWU’s legislative program and legislative priorities.
Hawaii and the nation are in the midst of a crisis. Many do not even realize the crisis exists while others are all too familiar with the challenges of what has been referred to as the “silver tsunami.”
LIHUE—With today’s hustle and bustle, we often forget to praise and thank the people who do so much for their communities. This is true of the many unit officers and stewards who volunteer their time to help their fellow workers and serve the union.
Kauai Division made it a point by giving special recognition to those outstanding individuals at their annual recognition banquet held at the Kauai ILWU Union Hall in Lihue on December 18, 2015.
HONOLULU—Under the bright sun and brisk trade winds, the ILWU 30th Annual Slow-Pitch Softball Tournament was played on Saturday, October 3, 2015. The tournament was hosted by the Oahu Division and played at the Salt Lake District Park.