The Pacific Coast Pensioners Assn., the organization of ILWU longshore retirees, gathered for their 38th Convention in San Francisco Sept. 12-14. Their goal: to support the union, the Coastwise contract and the interests of all active and retired ILWU members and families.
In all, 132 delegates and 20 guests, representing pensioners from the U.S. West Coast and Canada, rekindled the camaraderie they shared for so many years on the job and in the hall. But it was not about nostalgia. The retirees focused on problems that will confront the youngest worker, the worker’s children, and eventually the old timers everyone hopes to be one day.
Longshore Local 10 President Trent Willis welcomed the pensioners to the area. "But it’s really the other way around," he said, referring to the retirees welcoming of younger members to the union they built.
The union’s top officers dropped by the meeting to greet the old timers. International President Jim Spinosa’s opening remarks reassured the members their pensions and benefits were safe and that the union was watching carefully moves by Congressional Republicans that might harm pension plans in the future.
"We’re going to make every effort not just to hold the bar up with our plan but to make it better for workers throughout the world," Spinosa said.
International Vice President Bob McEllrath assured the pensioners that the Welfare and Pensions Committee of the Longshore Caucus was meeting often in preparation for the 2008 negotiations.
"The committee is in training just like a pro fighter," McEllrath said. "The committee we have is just like a champion, we can go in and do 15 rounds."
International Secretary-Treasurer Willie Adams said a few words about organizing.
"It’s important that we do another March Inland," Adams said. "Longshore will grow, by the nature of the work, but we need to also fight for the people who can’t fight for themselves."
Coast Committeeman Joe Wenzl laid down a friendly challenge to sign up more pensioners for the union’s continuing battles.
"There are only 2,500 pensioners signed up, yet there’s 8,700 retirees," Wenzl said. "The fight for pensioners’ benefits is a constant fight. You need to get down to the hall and mingle with the new members. We need to make the family connection to show that we are all in this together."
Coast Committeeman Ray Ortiz Jr. stressed the need to re-unify labor.
"The movement of the global economy has labor eating at each other, while the big boys, the Wal-Marts and Wall Street, are sitting back laughing at us," he said. "Some other unions have even gone after their pensioners, because with the high health care costs a guy working says, ‘I’m working, why should I pay a co-pay when the pensioner went out with fully paid healthcare?’"
The resolutions the delegates passed reflected present and future needs. The Convention voted to increase dues slightly to $5 annually and resolved to protect health care, prepare for the 2008 longshore negotiations and ask the ILWU Longshore Division for an assessment of one dollar per month per member on active members to support the next PCPA Convention.
The PCPA needed to raise dues because the pensioners are sending representatives to the Third International Pacific Rim Mining and Maritime meeting in South Africa in 2007. They had also agreed with the Maritime Union of Australia Veterans to work more closely in international retiree organizations and build international worker unity.
The delegates voted to contribute $1,000 to Hurricane Katrina relief and hold a "tarpaulin muster" to raise more funds. Canadian pensioner Frank Kennedy announced ILWU Canada’s Longshore Pensioners’ club would match the U.S. contribution. Southern California pensioners donated $5,000 and Longview donated another $1,000.
The ILWU has negotiated some of the best health care plans in the U.S. But the pensioners see that corporate America’s drive to pass rising health care onto workers is epidemic, and that workers have to fight this trend if health care is to be at all affordable. Rather than control costs, or look to single-payer strategies to reduce administrative costs, the corporations want to wash their hands of responsibility to workers’ health care.
The delegates passed a resolution noting that a single-payer system could eliminate 25 percent of current health care costs and committing themselves to join picket lines whenever medical coverage issues provoke a strike.
ILWU pensioners have long memories of contract battles past. The 2002 negotiations showed the PMA, the employers group, is, as another resolution states, "in cahoots with the Bush administration, and [it] clearly desires to completely destroy the ILWU." And that could end health care and other benefits for retirees and survivors. Looking forward to the next longshore negotiations in 2008, the resolution calls for the nine ILWU credit unions to take "the necessary steps to put the significant financial power of their joint members in readiness for the upcoming negotiations."
"Credit unions represent almost a quarter billion dollars of our money," said Lewis Wright, an ILWU pensioner and chair of the board of directors of the ILWU credit union in Wilmington. "Let’s put our money where it can do the best for our future."
Rich Austin spoke in favor. "I’ll ask my local to ask the credit union to suspend loan payments in the event of some nasty employer chicanery."
The convention voted for its officers for the upcoming year. They will be:
President—Arne Auvinen
Vice-President—Joe Lucas
Recording Secretary — Bill Duncan
Treasurer—Barbara Lewis
Executive Board:
Seattle—Paul McCabe, alternate Bill Roberts
Columbia River—George Gornick, alternate Verna Porter
Coos Bay—Jim Davidson
Columbia River small ports (Longview and Astoria)—Kenny Swicker, alternate Ester Auvenin
Southern California—Lou Loveridge
Northern California — Cleophas Williams, alternate Ralph Rooker
Canada—will elect delegate to Executive Board when they go back home
Negotiating Committee—Bill Ward
Education Committee—Al Perisho
Benefits Committee—Rich Austin
HBI—Judy Swicker, Lou Loveridge
PCPA President Arne Auvinen summed up one of the most important goals ahead for workers in the U.S.
"This country of ours is just like that flag in ‘The Star Spangled Banner,’" he said. "The Constitution is tattered and torn and we have to get organized so we can make changes in this country. We’ve gotta get those jackals out of the White House and Congress and get things going our way."
The next PCPA convention will be in Tacoma Sept. 18-20, 2006.
