The ILWU’s effort to create affordable integrated housing for working people says much about its values and efforts to define the city that birthed the union and remains its headquarters.
Workers from Alameda County Industries made the decision to join ILWU Local 6. They convinced the city to provide funding to raise their wages in a new union contract. Their wages are now steadily increasing and will reach $20.94/hour in 2019.
Photo essay by David Bacon.
"...owners said they would suspend the unloading of container and other cargo ships on Thursday, Monday and the weekend because of what they called "a strike with pay."
The move followed a similar two-day limit on work last weekend that angered many port workers. They saw it as a ploy to punish them and increase pressure to settle on a new labor contract after nine months of negotiations, which continue with the aid of a federal mediator."
If ILWU members don’t figure out how to use their ship-side strength to bolster unionization across the logistics industry, they will see their power erode, as shippers and terminal operators continue to shift work off the docks and away from the waterfront. The ILWU’s members, with their rich history, deserve as much from their union. They still have time to avoid the fate of once-strong unions like the UAW.
West Coast Longshore workers have been without a union contract since July. Now management is complaining that the workers are slowing down on the job.
The tentative agreement reached between the ILWU and the Pacific Northwest Grain Handlers Association (PNGHA) would impose a major reduction in working conditions and shop floor power, including the loss of the union controlled hiring hall, and no overtime pay until after 12 hours. The agreement would prevent work stoppages because it would allow the employer the right to use its own managers to replace union workers during work stoppages.
ILWU members have maintained strong, round-the-clock picket lines for months since UGC locked out members of ILWU Local 4 in Vancouver in February and CGI locked out ILWU Local 8 members in Portland in May.
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