Applications Due March 1, 2013

ILWU longshore locals in Hawaii received their charters from the newly formed International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) in 1937.

Sugar and pineapple were big and profitable businesses, and the needs of the industries came to dominate the government and life of the Hawaiian Islands. Sugar was no longer produced by small farmers, but by 33 large-scale plantation operations, each employed hundreds of workers covering thousands of acres of the best agricultural lands.

No where else was wealth so highly concentrated than in the Hawaiian islands. Sugar and pineapple plantations were wholly owned or controlled subsidiaries of five parent companies—American Factors (Amfac), C. Brewer, Alexander & Baldwin, Castle & Cooke, and the smallest, with only four plantations, Theo H. Davies & Co.

Hawaii in 1935 was dominated by five companies, known as the Big Five, which owned or controlled nearly all economic activity in the islands. To a large extent, business controlled government and society—the political and social climate was very pro-business and very anti-union. The few unions that did exist were limited to white skilled craftsmen.