Marine clerks Local 40 set a milestone for the ILWU Longshore Division April 14 by electing Martha Hendricks president. No longshore local had ever picked a woman to fill its top office before.

Hendricks, 43, has been an ILWU member for more than 23 years and served the union in many ways.

“Our membership has so much confidence in Martha because she’s always participating without looking for recognition,” said Dawn Des Brisay, a Local 40 executive board member who has worked with Hendricks for years. “You ask Martha to do a job and she follows through. She listens and she cares and you know you can trust her,” she said.

Hendricks started out in longshore Local 8, receiving her “B” registration status in January 1981 and her “A” status in February 1989. Six years later, she transferred to Local 40.

Since joining Local 40, Hendricks has served on the Balloting Committee, the Labor Relations Committee, the Executive Board and the Columbia River District Council (CRDC). She became vice-president of the local in December 2003, and was elected president in a special election held this April.

“Notwithstanding Martha’s commitment to her family and her work as a clerk in Local 40, she vigilantly volunteers her time for picket duty, attending meetings and rallies and traveling around the country as an ILWU representative,” said Local 40 Business Agent Kevin Clark. Hendricks has participated in the ILWU’s Washington, D.C. lobbying efforts as a member of CRDC, and traveled to the grocery workers’ solidarity rally in Los Angeles this January with four other ILWU members from the Columbia River area.

Hendricks has been married to her husband James for 22 years, and they have a four-year-old daughter named Mariah.

“Martha loves to cook and garden and raise her daughter,” Des Brisay said. “Even on the job, she’s interested in people’s lives. She’s just a very nurturing person.”

—MER