Del Beazley and friends leads the singing of “We Shall Not Be Moved” during Friday's graduation. It was a moving finale of another very successful ILWU education program.

Labor Institute - from page 3

and wrote letters to the hotel's owners, HTH Corporation, in support of the workers. 

Friday's workshops were 3 hours long and focused on issues in the workplace, such as health care, family rights, workloads, and how to get more members active in the union.

Graduating New leaders
 Graduation on Friday, October 19, was the last event of an intensive five days of learning and interaction for the participants. It was the end of the Institute, but just the beginning for taking what they learned back to the membership.

ILWU Local 142 President Fred Galdones thanked the participants. "Thank you for telling your members that you are willing to be a union leader, that you are willing to step forward and help your brothers and sisters in the workplace." Fred stressed that the education they received during the institute was just the beginning. "The best education will be out in the field, when you return home to your units."

Five students, one from each of the four ILWU Divisions and one from Lana'i, were asked to speak about what they learned, what they got out of the institute, and what they will do when they return home.

Barton McCollough from Yamada and Sons represented the Hawaii Division. "This was a good learning experience and it was fun meeting new people. I hope to take back some of the things I learned, particularly what I learned about safety hazards and unsafe equipment.”

“This was an empowering experience,” said Lolohea Hong from the Westin Maui and Maui Division. "I want to thank my unit and membership for the opportunity to be here. I learned how we have to support each other, because everyone here has the same issues and the same problems.”

“This has been an invigorating week,” said David Truong from Castle & Cooke Resorts on Lana'i. David warned that workers have to be prepared to take on an employer who does things against us and our families. “Pacific Beach could happen to any of us,” he said.

Brad Scott from Hawaii Stevedores spoke on behalf of Oahu Division. “We're all positive about our job and making the workplace better. In longshore, we don't have the same problem as some of the other industries. Our fight in longshore is to maintain what we have.” Brad reminded everyone, “the employer always tries to take stuff away.” 

Kauai Division was represented by Leanne Shiroma from KD Golf Operations at Kauai Lagoons. She reminded everyone that the ILWU is a rank-and-file union, run by the membership. “We are the union--not just the officers up there.”

What did they learn? 
Twelve instructors taught the 35 classes and workshops during the five days of the 2007 ILWU Labor Institute. After each class, the participants were asked to fill out an evaluation form which asked what they found most useful and any comments they had about the class or instructor. Following are descriptions of the workshops and the comments from the participants.

Each morning of the Institute started with a large group session. Participants attended separate workshops for the rest of the day. Right: In his workshop, Mark Brenner had dozens of examples of how unions built effective and long-term relations with the community. In one city, bus drivers hit by cuts in routes and layoffs helped organize support in the communities affected by the cuts in bus service. In another example, workers made their point by operating their company without supervisors for a day. Community supporters blocked the entrances and prevented supervisors from entering the building.

Mark Brenner - Director Labor Notes New York and Chicago
Mark Brenner spoke on two panel presentations and taught two workshops: Shop Floor Tactics and Power in the Community.

• Creative tactics. How to frustrate your boss. Mapping the workplace. How to spread information. !Building power at work. Organizing network. Great ideas shared, informative, interesting. 
• Strategy and tactics. Very fun, kept everything moving, very informative. 
• Building awareness in the community - inspiring more involvement of community people, politicians, churches, schools. 
• Community involvement. Never thought of getting community groups involved with work issues - Rhonda Morris, Grand Hyatt Kauai. 
• How to get communities and organizations to help get what you want from companies. 
• Finding ways to connect with the community. May need to approach the community with negotiations committee. 
• All topics. It allowed me to focus in on how community support plays an important role in our union causes.

Robert Schwartz - Author and Labor Attorney, Work Rights Press - Chicago 
Robert Schwartz spoke on two panel presentations and taught two workshops: Winning the Inside Campaign and Pickets and Boycotts.

• What you can and cannot do during strikes and work hours. 
• Organizing strike strategies. Very informative coming from a lawyer who actually knows the law. 
• Strike issues what you can and cannot do when your contract expires - Abel Kahoohanohano, Maui Division business agent. 
• Goals of inside campaigns and inside tactics were very informative. 
• National Labor Relations Act. How the act evolved and how it affects the union. Very good. Enlightens on our rights and different tactics to use.