By Steve Stallone

The ILWU International Execu-tive Board, meeting in its regular session April 15 and 16 in San Francisco, voted unanimously to join the rest of the American labor movement in endorsing Massachu-setts Democratic Senator John Kerry for president.

While the board debated endorsing various Democratic candidates at its special session Jan. 7, it could not come to a consensus. Three months later, Kerry had all but wrapped up the Democratic nomination, so the board decided he was the candidate most likely to accomplish the union’s primary political goal: the defeat of George Bush.

In other actions, two new board members were sworn in. Longshore Local 10’s Lawrence Thibeaux was chosen by the Northern California locals to replace Kevin Gibbons, who transferred to clerks’ Local 34. Richard Cavalli, the president of Local 34, already sits on the board and no local can have more than one representative. Jerry Lagazo of Hawaii Local 142 finally got to take his elected position on the board as the Islands’ representative from the sugar industry after being out with a personal injury.

The board also set the date for the next International Convention. It will be held May 15-19, 2006 in Vancouver, British Columbia and the Longshore Caucus will be held there the following week, May 22-27.

In the Vice Presidents’ reports, Vice President, Mainland Bob McEllrath and Vice President, Hawaii Wesley Furtado, who are in charge of the union’s organizing program, announced the Organizing Dept. will hold a three-day training session in Honolulu June 3, 4, and 5 with the AFL-CIO’s organizing chief Stuart Acuff. Ten rank-and-file organizers from each of Local 142’s divisions and the International organizing staff will attend the training.

Pursuant to previous board action the two conference rooms in the International headquarters were dedicated and named for two of the union’s most important leaders, former International Secretary-Treasurer Lou Goldblatt, who served in that position from 1943 to 1977 and former International Pres-ident Jimmy Herman, who served from 1977 to 1991.

Goldblatt’s three daughters, Ann King Smith, Lee Nixon and Liza Goldblatt, attended the dedication ceremony, emceed by current Inter-national Secretary-Treasurer Willie Adams. Former International Secre-tary-Treasurer Joe Ibarra made the dedication of the Lou Goldblatt room, reminiscing about the ways Goldblatt had made a difference in the lives and careers of upcoming ILWU leaders like himself, Curtis McClain, LeRoy King and Keith Eickman.

Louis Goldblatt’s daughter Lee Nixon (right) speaks at the ceremony dedicating one of the conference rooms at the ILWU International Headquarters to her father. Listening intently are (left to right) her sisters, Ann King Smith and Liza Goldblatt, ILWU International Secretary-Treasurer William Adams and Doug Smith, Ann’s husband.

“One of the things that struck me is that when I first started, when I became active [in the ILWU], there was a guy like Louie Goldblatt who took me under his wings and introduced me to some of the weirdest, strangest, most wonderful people that make up this wonderful ILWU,” Ibarra said.

He went on to tell anecdotes about how Goldblatt would come up with strategies to move even the most obstinate employers into negotiating good contracts.

“Every time we got Louie involved in bargaining, the agreement resulted in at least a nickel or dime more, in some cases even more,” Ibarra said. “It was a lot of money in those times. The [employers’] attorneys always understood that every time we got Louie involved, it was going to cost them more money.”

Clerks Local 34 President Richard Cavalli made the dedication of the large conference room for Herman. “This room is probably the most appropriate room to dedicate to Jimmy Herman,” Cavalli said.

“This is where he did his work. If memory serves me correctly, that’s where he sat, over there where Max is sitting. The employers sat on the other side of the table. Jimmy did so much excellent work right here on the contracts that he negotiated.”

Cavalli went on to joke about Herman’s poor eyesight and the problems it caused in his driving and parking.

“Jimmy might not have been able to see very well through a windshield, but he had a clarity of vision about what this society was supposed to be that was as right as he could possibly be,” Cavalli continued. “He knew instinctively that there were things in this society that were not provided for workers that should be provided for workers. Jimmy’s whole life waas dedicated to straightening that out and helping working people.

“The last thing I want to say about Jimmy Herman is that it has always appeared to me that the task that he took on here was a daunting one,” Cavalli concluded. “He followed Harry Bridges. I can’t imagine a worse position to be in than to try to follow a legend. Jimmy did that, and he did that very well. He did it with grace and with understanding and with dedication.”