[This article originally appeared in the May 2006 edition of the Dispatcher. It was written by Arne Auvinen, President of the Pacific Coast Pensioners from 2003-2006. He passed away on July 31st of this year and was honored at 47th annual PCPA convention held this September in Vancouver, BC. We reprint this excellent article on the PCPA written by Arne to honor his legacy and dedication to the ILWU even in retirement and the important work he did for the PCPA.–Eds]
In a monumental negotiations breakthrough, the first ILWU pension checks were passed out to retiring ILWU longshoremen, clerks and foreman in July 1952 at special meetings held up and down the Coast.
Soon after retiring, these pensioners began to organize into clubs in the various areas of the West Coast. In the beginning a main purpose of the pension clubs was to provide a place and an opportunity for ILWU retirees and their wives to visit and keep alive the satisfying work and fraternal relationships going back many years. Before long most pension clubs to face up to and take action on senior and labor problems and issues of direct concern to their clubs and the locals from which they retired. They found out they needed their pension clubs to represent them in maintaining and improving their living standards under the contract and Social Security. Realizing that strength was in their numbers, in 1968 ILWU pensioners took the next step, forming the Pacific Coast Pensioners Association.
The original driving force in organizing the PCPA was Leo Miller, Local 63 Wilmington Marine Clerks. He received help from Locals 13 and 24 in raising money and encouragement. The criteria for a coastwise organizing meeting were: 1) find a location half the distance between Bellingham, Wash. And San Diego Calif.; 2) stay away from the seaports; 3) have parking for RVs and hotel accommodations.
After investigating various sites from Red Bluff, Calif. to Medfore, Ore., Miller recommended Anderson, Calif. The call was sent to all pension groups to hold an organizing convention Sept. 16, 17 and 18, 1968. The delegates assembled at the organizing convention and came without compensation, instruction, or constitution, but with enthusiasm and the will do something, not only for themselves, but for all pensioners.
Miller favored a loose organization, with just a coordinator and an Executive Board. The northern delegates wanted to elect a President, Vice President, Secretary and Executive Board, with a constitution to be written and presented to the 1969 convention.
They resolved their difference and Bill Lawrence, Local 13, was elected President; Mike Sickinger, Local 8, Treasurer; Rosco Craycraft, Local 19, Secretary of the Executive Board and Brother Leo Miller to serve as coordinator until the 1969 convention.
The purpose of all this was to have a fraternal organization of ILWU pensioners that would give them unity, direction and purpose. Through their association they would have a voice to speak for them at both the union and the national level. They believed that a fraternal adjunct to the ILWU would be of considerable value.
The pensioners and wives who gathered at the first convention were all veterans of the 1934 strike. They had all been together through the struggles of the 30s and 40s and knew there was no such thing as a free lunch. They understood that in order to maintain their benefits they had to support the ILWU as they did when they were working.
In the beginning most pensioners and their spouses believed in the PCPA, but attitudes changed in pensioners retiring after the 1960s. When they retired, they failed to participate or even join the PCPA. The ILWU still needs the support of all pensioners, spouses and widows. Out of 8,700 eligible retirees, only 2,700 are members of the PCPA. Our union and the labor movement as a whole are at a crossroads, and both need the support of all the ILWU pensioners.
Prosperity breeds greed, apathy and complacency. Workers and pensioners become self-serving during the good times. There is no one among us working or retired who should forget that what we have today is here because someone fought on our behalf long before we were part of the union movement. We “old timers,” pensioners or whatever we want to be called, should not sit back and collect our pensions and Social Security and ignore what has happened with the airline and automobile companies, where pensions and retiree health care have been slashed or eliminated altogether and think we are immune. Only be joining in the struggle can we be sure what we enjoy today is not lost.
We should not just think of ourselves, but of future generations of workers, including our children and grandchildren. We should remember the past and constantly remind the active workers how it was.
Many years ago, IWW leader Big Bill Haywood said, “You can put two bits in a working man’s pocket and do anything you want with him. If you try to take any part of it away, he becomes a fighting SOB.”
We have to be prepared for the worst, so join the struggle now. Join the PCPA.
–Arne Auvinen