Utility worker and unit vice chairperson Troy Garcia digs graves, sets vaults in them, and covers them up with his backhoe. “I like the security of being in a union. If there is no union, the company can do whatever it wants. With a union contract, there are rules it has to follow.”

Eugenio Pagdilao hoses down the moat surrounding the Byodo-In Temple, which has been drained for cleaning. The temple was built in 1968, one year before workers organized into the ILWU.

Ground maintenance worker Pedro Sarmiento has been with the company for 17 years. “This is a nice place, a good job,” he said. “The union helps us plenty.”

“It’s good for me to have a union,” said Prudencio Bautista, who has worked for Valley of the Temples since 1994. “I have children to take care of.”

Francis Agustin is a 15-year member of the ILWU and serves as unit chairperson. Members have elected him for three terms in a row an value his experience in negotiations, but he said, “I’m trying to bring up new members to be officers, too— We need them to be active, too.”

“I feel safe belonging to a union,” said Goldwin Nastor (left) with Jimmy Delos Santos. “We have job security and good benefits.”