Unit treasurers have the responsibility of safeguarding union funds. They must check dues paying members and the company seniority list to make sure all members are paying their share of union dues. The treasurers must also make sure all spending by the unit is authorized by the members of the unit.

ILWU financial policies and federal law require all units to get membership approval before spending unit funds. These funds come from union dues paid by members of the unit.

Routine and regular unit expenses may be approved in advance by members approving a budget or giving the unit executive board the authority to spend money on preapproved activities such as attending conventions, negotiations, and education classes.

ILWU policy requires two signatures on spending vouchers—the unit treasurer and usually the unit chair.

The treasurers practiced by filling out their own lost wage forms.

Annual reports required by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) detail the amount paid to union officers and employees. The information is openly available to the public and union members by visiting the DOL website at: http://www.dol.gov/olms/ regs/compliance/rrlo/lmrda.htm.

According to the Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) this information is made public to promote union democracy and financial integrity.

Under the Republican Administration of George W. Bush, the DOL did surprise audits of union lost wage payments to officers. The DOL compared the lost wage claim of the union officer with the employer’s actual work schedule and time sheets. If a union officer claimed 40 hours of work, but the actual work schedule showed only 35 hours of work, then the Department of Labor would bring charges against that officer.

HTH Corp. continues to defy court order

Although a federal judge ordered the hotel to comply with a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision, HTH Corp. Vice President Robert Minicola plans to defy the court order.

Administrative law judge James Kennedy upheld 15 out of 16 ILWU complaints that hotel management had violated numerous federal labor laws. The NLRB ordered the hotel to rehire fired negotiating committee members, reduce housekeeping room assignments, restore unilateral changes, and resume bargaining with the ILWU where it left off, with all tentative agreements in place.

After a few very short meetings with the ILWU, HTH Mitch Minicola charged the union with refusing to bargain. Minicola announced he would increase the housekeeping assignments and end the matching 401k payments.

Minicola has deluded himself to believe the hotel has not broken the law and will win its appeal of the NLRB decision to Washington D.C.

Minicola’s delusions defy common logic and have no rational explanation. The hotel has lost every previous appeal of NLRB decisions and the NLRB has a very strong and well documented case against the hotel. There is almost no chance the hotel will win its appeal.

“If I had broken the law, I would be jail,” Minicola told our union president. Minicola and HTH officers Corine Hayashi-Watanabe and John Hayashi may find themselves in jail if they continue to hold the law in contempt.

Randall Tenn of Servco Pacific Inc. and Wilfred Chang of Waikele Golf Club worktogetheranddiscussproceduresduringtheclass.UnitTreasurershandle the most paperwork of any unit officer. Below: Local Vice President Donna Domingo explains treasurers’ responsibilities to Oahu class participants.

Canadian unions pledge support of Pacific Beach Hotel workers and boycott

ILWU Canadian President Tom Dufresne and International Vice President Hawaii Wesley Furtado met with Canadian Labour Congress President Ken Georgetti this June 2010.

Georgetti pledged the full support of the Canadian labor movement to the ILWU and workers of the Pacific Beach Hotel. Georgetti has assigned a staff person to work with the ILWU to coordinate the boycott of the hotel in Canada and to put pressure on Sun Life Insurance Company, a Canadian company which loaned $38 million to HTH.

The Canadian Labour Congress is the umbrella organization of dozens of Canadian, International Unions, and provincial and regional labor councils in Canada. Member unions represent more than three million workers, including thousands of members of the ILWU Canada region.