ILWU warehouse Local 6 Secretary-Treasurer Fred Pecker (left) lobbies Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) the House Democratic leader, as longshore Local 13's Mike Piazza prepares to give her some ILWU literature. Photo by: Dawn Desbrisay.
By Lindsay McLaughlin
ILWU Legislative Director
It could not have occurred at a more opportune time. More than 50 members of the ILWU met in Washington, D.C. from March 13-17 to lobby members of Congress on issues that matter to working families.
Following on the heels of the Dubai Ports World controversy, politicians were more prepared to listen to the agenda of the ILWU. Led by Legislative Action Committee members Max Vekich, Dawn Desbrisay, Lawrence Thibeaux, and Southern California leaders Mike Ponce and Joe Radisich, the delegates studied the issues of concern to the ILWU and lobbied very hard to convince Congress to adopt our agenda.
"The ILWU has been talking about port security for several years, yet it seemed Congress finally heard what we have been saying," said Desbrisay, the Legislative Action Committee member from the Columbia River Region. "Democrats and Republicans were eager to hear what ILWU had to say and, even though we have been talking about the inspection of empties and inspecting seals for several years, it seemed like everyone agreed with us on this trip."
The Conference was centered around a number of core ILWU issues:
• Port security
• Green ports/Saving lives campaign
• Pension protection
• Health Care
• Employee Free Choice Act
• Service Contract Act/ Alcatraz ferry boat contract.
The ILWU invited an impressive list of policy makers to address the union about port security. Dabney Hegg, Democratic staffer for the Senate Commerce Committee and Shay Hancock, Legislative Assistant to Senator Patty Murray, addressed the Conference its first day on two bills they helped draft, S. 1052, the Transportation Security Act, and S. 2008, the Green Lane Cargo Maritime Security Act. The two senior staffers heard from longshore workers on a number of port security topics, including the need to exclude labor disputes from what the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) views as a transportation security incident. Current law includes a felony conviction on a "transportation security incident" to be a reason to exclude an individual from working in the ports. This change in the law is of the highest priority for the ILWU.
Representative Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) spoke about the need to fully implement the Maritime Transportation Security Act. He expressed exasperation that port security has not been adequately funded since Congress passed legislation to address the problem in 2002. He also spoke on the controversial issue of background checks and Transportation Worker Identification Cards (TWIC). Although the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 mandated TWIC cards for workers, the DHS has failed to implement this mandate.
Since the Conference, the DHS has announced plans to issue regulations this year and to implement background checks and TWIC cards in the 25 most vulnerable ports by March 2007. The ILWU continues to work on this critical issue in advocating that only crimes related to terrorism should be a matter of concern to the DHS. We are demanding a fair appeals process and if longshore workers are subjected to background checks, then every individual with access to terminals, including truck drivers, must be subjected to the same checks.
The Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Peter King (R-NY), spoke at a Congressional reception sponsored by the ILWU. King agrees with the ILWU that longshore workers deserve an independent Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) to hear appeals when a worker is denied a TWIC card by the Transportation Security Administration. It appears that an ALJ process may become law given that a provision is included in the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act that mandates an Administrative Law Judge process for port workers denied a transportation security card. The ILWU has lobbied hard for fair due process for our members and it looks like that work is finally paying off.
During the Conference, ILWU members packed a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on port security legislation. Subcommittee Chair Dan Lungren (R-CA) and Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) introduced the SAFE Ports Act and scheduled this hearing on the subject. In the hearing, Rep. Lungren referred to his meeting with longshoremen when he discussed the issue of access control. Longshoremen brought to his attention the case of a man who breached security on three occasions and traveled on board ships bound for Los Angeles, Japan and China. It was not until after the third incident that the Coast Guard asked for longshoremen’s help in keeping this individual off the docks.
As a result of information given to her by ILWU members, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) spoke of the need to address the threat of empty containers, and later introduced an amendment to the bill that sets up a pilot program to evaluate the empty container threat.
Joe Radisich, President of the Southern California District Council, spoke on our second topic: saving lives by promoting greener ports. Radisich spoke of working with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in setting goals for a 20 percent ship emission pollution reduction by the year 2010 for all carriers that call at U.S. ports. He also noted that the efforts in Los Angeles have peaked the interest of the mayors of Seattle and Oakland.
Rep. George Miller (D-CA) mirrored our concern on pension security. Miller is outraged that corporate CEOs have written pension plans for themselves that cannot be taken away, but have no problem breaking the promise to their workers for lifetime benefits. Miller has introduced legislation to prohibit the practice of setting up two tiers of pension plans—one for the company bigwigs and another for the workers.
Delegates at the Conference lobbied to protect longshore pensions from being adversely affected by legislation currently being considered by Congress. An ILWU-supported amendment to the Pension Protection Act would protect the ILWU/PMA plan from reductions in benefits. The legislation is now in the hands of negotiators in the House and the Senate where we continue to lobby to retain the ILWU provision.
To tackle the health care issue, we invited Joel Segal, Legislative Assistant to Representative John Conyers (D-MI), Jo Ann Volk, health care lobbyist for the AFL-CIO, George Romero, benefits specialist for the ILWU, and Kyle Weimann, Legislative Assistant for the ILWU, to participate on a panel to discuss and debate these important issues.
The ILWU has long advocated high quality comprehensive universal health care coverage for all Americans. We believe that health care is a basic human right, one of a civilized society’s central precepts. Rep. Conyers has introduced the United States National Health Insurance Act establishing a publicly financed, privately delivered health care system. It would use the already existing Medicare program, improving it and expanding it to all U.S. residents and all residents living in U.S. Territories. This bill absolutely fits into the principles enunciated throughout the history of the ILWU. We are still studying it and may suggest amendments to make it a more feasible program to put into practice.
Delegates also discussed and lobbied on our union’s opposition to health savings accounts. People who create these accounts are permitted to save a portion of their income in a special tax-free shelter, to be withdrawn to cover medical expenses. These accounts are then combined with high-deductible health insurance. On the most basic level, these health savings accounts destroy the risk-pooling system of insurance we have used since the days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal. Sick Americans become consumers of health services instead of patients, forced to worry about the costs of every procedure and test their doctors recommend. Individuals are left to bargain with hospitals alone instead of with the bargaining power of a large, comprehensive health insurance plan.
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) addressed the Conference on a number of topics, including the insane trade policies the U.S. has adopted. He began his speech by announcing, "We have the best government money can buy." And he’s right. Corporate money bought trade policies that devalue human work and allow multinational corporations to scour the earth searching for cheap labor and no regulations on their ability to foul up the environment.
We lobbied to put the brakes on free trade policies. The ILWU is not immune from job losses caused by trade policies. In anticipation of CAFTA implementation, Del Monte Fresh in Hawaii announced it was leaving Hawaii, abandoning the 800 workers and their families who have served it well in search of cheap labor overseas. Del Monte will be expanding its operations in Costa Rica (a CAFTA country) rather than continuing to employ Americans in the production of pineapple.
We were particularly pleased that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, addressed the Conference. She made a promise to the ILWU that if she becomes Speaker in November, she would place the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) on the floor of the House. The Act would greatly help the ILWU and other unions organize workers, strengthening the protections for workers’ freedom to choose by requiring employers to recognize a union after a majority of workers sign cards authorizing union representation.
Last, the ILWU lobbied to protect the sanctity of the Service Contract Act. This Act is similar to the Davis-Bacon Act for construction workers in that it protects the prevailing wages for workers providing services to a government agency. The National Park Service has decided this act does not apply to them and has refused to apply it to the contract for ferry services for service to Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay.
Members of the Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific, the Marine Division of the ILWU, work aboard the Blue and Gold Fleet taking passengers and National Park service workers to Alcatraz. The National Park Service recently awarded this contract to a non-union employer, Hornblower, which refuses to pay union wages and to recognize the unions providing services to the island.
As a result of lobbying by IBU San Francisco Bay Regional Director Marina Secchitano, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) placed a hold on the nomination of David Bernhardt the for Interior Dept.’s top attorney position to try to influence the National Park Service policy. We continue to monitor this situation and work to protect the jobs of these workers by lobbying for the sanctity of the Service Contract Act.
We ended the Conference with a debriefing and a chance for every delegate to get up and speak about the need for ILWU political action. I want to take this opportunity to thank the delegates for the outstanding job and service they performed on behalf of the ILWU.
