Statehood Countdown #16 (1955 ILWU Biennial Convention)

Aug 6th, 2009 by Arnie Saiki

Continuing our Statehood Hawaiiʻs “Statehood Countdown,” weʻre looking at four resolutions delivered to the ILWU Local 142, 2nd Biennial Local Convention at the Hilo Armory in September 1955. The four resolutions on World Peace, World Trade, Capital Punishment, and Statehood for Hawaii.

This document not only offers insight as to what were some of the major conditions facing Hawaii and our relationship to the world in 1955, but it opens the door to our understanding of the relationship between local and international unions, the United Nations, and the cold war.

Go to Statehood Countdown.

July 2009 - ILWU Origins in 1934 Strike

An exhibit in the San Francisco Public Library's History Center features the the birth of the ILWU in the 1934 strike.The following is taken from their website.

Featured Exhibition: The Men Along the Shore and the Legacy of 1934

At the beginning of the 20th Century, employers launched an all-out campaign to crush the labor movement. Union organizers were portrayed as un-American in the media and union members were subjected to a reign of terror, including vigilante violence, mass arrests, deportations and lynchings. Radical union leaders were driven underground and many workers were forced to join company unions.

In 1934 the workers fought back. The Pacific Coast Maritime Strike and the subsequent San Francisco General Strike are some of the most significant events in San Francisco and U.S. labor history. In a new exhibition in the Skylight Gallery - The Men Along the Shore and the Legacy of 1934 - historic photographs, graphics and newspapers will tell the story of how longshoremen, considered little more than transients at the time, stood up and made history. The exhibition will be on view through August 31 on the Sixth Floor of the Main Library.

New Ballots for International Election

In August, all Hawaii ILWU members should be receiving a new ballot in the mail for the International ILWU Officers election. Please exercise your right to vote with this ballot. You must vote again even if you mailed back the ballot you received in July.

The ballots sent in July will not be counted. Due to a computer error, large numbers of the July ballots mixed up names and addresses.

Aug 2009 - American On the Move

A new exhibit, "American on the Move", at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History features a section on "Transforming the Waterfront." It shows how containers transformed the shipping industry in San Francisco and Oakland, California.

Go to Transforming the Waterfront

Boycott the Pacific Beach Hotel

Do not patronize the Pacific Beach Hotel

Support our brothers and sisters of the Pacific Beach Hotel in their long struggle to organize under the ILWU and negotiate a first contract. On Dec. 1, 2007, HTH Corp. fired 32 workers, many of the top union supporters, and refused to recognize the union. NLRB hearings on the charges against the company concluded in March 2009. The administrative law judge who presided over the hearings should be issuing a decision soon. Check out their boycott site website.