The “International” of the ILWU is made up of the Titled Officers, field staff, professional staff, and clerical workers. International Officers and members of the International Executive Board are nominated at the International Convention that meets every three years. They are elected later in direct rankand-file vote by secret ballot.

There are four Titled Officers in the International: a president, two vice presidents, and a secretary-treasurer. Their duties include running the day-today affairs of the Union and supervising the staff. The Titled Officers also make up the National Organizing Committee, which coordinates and administers funds and personnel used in organizing activities throughout the Union.

When Local 142 talks about The International, it refers to the four Titled Officers and also includes the International members in the Hawaii Regional Office.

The International coordinates the many constituencies of the ILWU: divisions, regions, locals, and industrial/occupational groupings. In practice, the International centralizes and digests the knowledge and experience of the membership—primarily as expressed in delegated bodies such as caucuses, conventions, district councils and the International Executive Board—and brings that collective wisdom to bear on contract administration, organizing, and the implementation of policy.

Robert McEllrath 
International President

Robert “Big Bob” McEllrath started working on the docks at the Port of Vancouver, Washington in 1969 after he finished high school.

In the year 2000, McEllrath was elected as Vice President of the International Union, and was re-elected to that post again in 2003.

In 2006, McEllrath was elected International President of the ILWU where he represents over 60,000 members along the West Coast, which includes members in Canada, Alaska, Hawaii and Panama.

In 2009, 2012, and 2015, union members re-elected McEllrath to serve additional terms as International President of the ILWU.

Ray Familathe 
International Vice President Mainland

Ray Familathe comes from a maritime family of seafarers and dockworkers. Before being elected as an ILWU officer, Ray was a working dockworker in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Ray has been elected to a of variety positions at the local and international level of the ILWU for the past 25 years. He also coordinates the relationship with ILWU affiliates outside of the United States: ILWU Canada and the Panama Division of the ILWU which includes Panama Canal Pilots and Tugboat Captains. He helps maintain close relationships between the ILWU and maritime workers and unions around the globe.

William E. Adams 
International Secretary-Treasurer

William E. Adams was elected ILWU International Secretary-Treasurer in 2003 and has been reelected since. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri.

Adams moved to Tacoma, Washington in 1978 where he went to work at the Port of Tacoma as a casual longshore worker. In the years that Adams has been ILWU’s International Secretary-Treasurer he has also done important international work. In December, 2004, he led an ILWU contingent to South Africa to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the end of apartheid. Continuing the ILWU’s tradition of international solidarity, Adams has traveled to and met with labor representatives in Australia, Spain, Cuba, Vietnam and China.

Dustin Dawson 
International Field Rep. HLD Benefits Coordinator

Dustin Dawson is the International Field Representative in the Hawaii Regional Office, where he specializes in organizing. He also serves as the Hawaii Longshore Division’s Benefits Coordinator. Dawson was elected to a second term as Unit 4201 Overall Vice Chairman last year, and takes pride in being able to serve his fellow members. His first leadership role in Local 142 was as a shop steward with Hawaii Stevedores Inc. (HSI), where he started as a supplemental in 1999. He became a fulltime longshoreman in 2001 and currently works at HSI as a crane operator.

Hawaii Regional Office

Wesley Furtado 
International Vice President Hawaii

Wesley “Wes” Furtado is a second generation longshoreman and member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 142. He worked on the waterfront for years and became a shop steward, longshore unit officer, and longshore negotiating committee member. In 2000, Furtado was elected ILWU International Vice President, Hawaii.

Wes is responsible for directing the ILWU’s organizing program in the State of Hawaii in addition to working with the ILWU affiliates in the State—Locals 142, 160, the newly organized Local 100, and the Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific, Hawaii Region.

Tracy Takano 
International Representative

Tracy Takano was born on an HC&S plantation camp in Sprecklesville, Maui. ILWU hired him in 1995 and he started working with the International in 1997. Although he was hired to do organizing, his duties today also include overseeing the Local’s housing program, handling certain hotel grievances statewide, and assisting the Local in other projects. He believes that without a union, workers have no power, because this society has no respect for workers. In his years of service in his various roles, he sees organizing the unorganized as a critical tool for helping right the balance of power.