Believe it or not, most workers organize into unions because of bad working conditions and poor treatment by management and not for higher wages and benefits. When workers are organized into unions, they gain the power to change their working conditions and demand respect and fair treatment from management.

“Units” are what we call the ILWU organization at your workplace. This means that sometime in the past, the workers at your company organized and a majority voted to unionize with the ILWU. The workers then negotiated a collective bargaining agreement (also called union contract) with your employer which puts in writing your wages, benefits, working conditions, and rights on the job.

The five-year agreement covers 52 members who now belong to ILWU Local 142, Oahu Division. The contract calls for a 4.5 percent wage increase upon ratification and a wage increase of 1.5 percent-1.75 percent each year thereafter, for a total pay raise of 10.5 percent-11.5 percent over the life of the contract.

The new agreement provides an invaluable benefit—job security. It will protect the workers against arbitrary discipline or firing by establishing just cause for any disciplinary action the company may initiate.

State Champions – Pepsi Beverages Co. (Back row, from left): Maurice “Moe” Johnson, Jason Haskell, Daniel Zane, Tyler Maldonado, Lekeli Watanabe. (Front row, from left): Gaylen Teraoka, Leo Manayan, Brad Guillermo, and Corey Shippy.

If you want more information about your union or union contract; if you have a problem on the job; if you want to become more involved with your union, the first person you should talk with is your union steward or Unit officer.

Unit officers and stewards are elected by the members of your unit to help their fellow union members on the job. They serve as volunteers and receive no extra pay or special privileges. Their names should be posted on the union bulletin board.

As a member, you are now a part of a family over 15,000 members strong. You are part of a long and proud tradition where workers organize to promote fairness and justice on the job. This issue of the Voice details your rights and responsibilities so you can make the most of your membership. Your membership in the ILWU started when you were hired into your job.

ILWU members joined with other workers, community organizations and church groups on Saturday, February 25th at a union hall in Hayward, CA where a training was held to prepare for immigration raids supported by President Trump. Those attending from Local 6 included Alejandra Leon, Mirella Jauregui, Pedro Sanchez, Delfina Casillas and SecretaryTreasurer Chris Castaing.

What do the letters stand for?

The letters I.L.W.U. stand for International Longshore and Warehouse Union, a union created in 1934 when longshore and warehouse workers on the West Coast of the United States merged to form a single union. In 1937, longshore workers in Hawaii chose to join up with the ILWU, because it was a democratic union that stood for racial equality within its membership. This was important to the Hawaii members who were mostly of Hawaiian and Asian ancestry.

A NOTE FROM LEAH BERNSTEIN, Director Treasurer of The Harriet Bouslog Labor Scholarship Fund:

Aloha and a big mahalo to the members of ILWU Local 142 for helping to secure a record number of applications for the Harriet Bouslog Labor Scholarship Fund. By the time you read this we will have extended scholarship offers to 18 applicants consisting of six freshmen, nine sophomores, and three seniors to the Fall 2017 class.

Harriet Bouslog was an attorney who defended the rights and freedom of ILWU leaders and members. She was the first female labor and civil rights attorney in Hawaii. She provided the legal support many of the sugar plantation workers needed in their efforts to unionize and stand up for themselves in the 1940s when the Big Five controlled Hawaii. The Big Five were the five companies that dominated Hawaii’s political and economic order; they did not care that their wealth was made off of brutalizing the working class.