Union members should think of negotiations as a continuing process that doesn’t end when a new contract is approved. Members need to read and understand their contract, so they know their rights. Unit officers and shop stewards must be alert to make sure management follows the terms of the contract and members get the full benefits they are entitled to receive.

lower house. Those elected included a number of union members who were encouraged to run for office. The Democratic majority in the legislature repealed many of the anti-labor laws and passed a law that gave agricultural workers the right to unionize. In 1954, Democrats won 55 of 76 elections, giving them a majority in the house and senate.

Demonstrations were held in every state in the nation on April 4, 2011 to oppose the attacks on workers’ rights to bargain collectively.

“Don’t waste any time mourning. Organize!” These were the last words of union organizer and song writer Joe Hill before he was executed by the State of Utah on November 19, 1915. Hill was a member of the IWW and was in Utah organizing mine workers.

The most comprehensive electorate survey—the American National Election Studies (ANES)—were carried out by the University of Michigan beginning in the late 1940s. What these studies showed was that Americans fall into three categories with regard to their political knowledge. A tiny percentage know a lot about politics, up to 50%-60% know enough to answer very simple questions, and the remaining 40% know next to nothing.

From the year 2000 to 2009 the increase in productivity of U.S. workers was 6 percent, the fourth highest in the world.

Every year the U.S. Department of Labor compares the wages, benefits, and productivity of U.S. workers and workers in countries that do a lot of business and trade with the U.S. See http://www.bls.gov/fls/home. htm#comp

Chart 1 right shows the increase in output per hour for the nine years from 2000 to 2009. Workers in Korea, Taiwan, the Czech Republic, and the United States increased their productivity by 6 percent or better. 

Maui Kaiser Permanente members Kaulana Kaa‘a, Rusty Helm, and Bryan Nakamoto help the ILWU organize new members in the health care industry. The Kaiser members are highly skilled medical diagnostic imaging technicians who do computerized tomography (CT), radiologic (X-ray), and mammography scanning.

Your union contract is a written agreement with your employer. It guarantees your wages, benefits, conditions of employment, and rights. It is enforceable through a grievance procedure and ultimately in a court of law.

If you want more information about your union or union contract; if you have a problem on the job; if you want to become more involved with your union, the first person you should talk to is your union steward or Unit officer.

Unit officers and stewards are elected by the members of your unit to help their fellow union members on the job. They serve as volunteers and receive no extra pay or special privileges. Their names should be posted on the union bulletin board.

A press conference was held on April 26, 2012 at the ILWU Local 142 headquarters, to announce the endorsement of Kirk Caldwell for Honolulu Mayor. Caldwell is endorsed by the ILWU and a majority of labor unions because of his commitment to the working families of Honolulu.