NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS |
UNION DEMOCRACY
New leadership at ILWU
house workers in California,
Willie Adams succeeds Bob
Oregon, Washington, Alaska,
McEllrath after the union’s first
Hawaii, and Canada. It with-
contested election in 18 years
drew from the AFL-CIO in
2013, citing jurisdictional dis-
Members of the International putes and political differences.
Longshore and Warehouse
Adams grew up in Kansas
Union (ILWU) elected their City, Missouri. He went to
union’s first-ever black presi-
work as a longshore-
dent, Willie Adams.
man at the Port of
Adams, ILWU’s long-
Tacoma, Washington
time secretary-trea-
in 1978, and became a
surer, outpolled long-
member of ILWU Lo-
time mainland vice
cal 23. Since 2003, he
president Ray Fami-
has served as interna-
lathe 4,423 to 4,030 in
tional secretary-trea-
mail ballots cast begin-
surer at the union’s
ning in August.
San Francisco head-
Adams succeeds
quarters. He’s also
Willie Adams
“Big Bob” McEllrath.
served as a mayor-ap-
McEllrath has been president pointed member of the five-
since 2006, but the ILWU Con- member San Francisco Port
stitution bars members over 65 Commission since 2012, and is
from running again.
currently the commission’s vice
Election results were certi- president.
fied Oct. 29 after the union ex-
Also elected were: Bobby
ecutive board voted 15 to 6 to Olvera, Jr., mainland vice pres-
reject a challenge over irregu- ident; Wesley Furtado, Hawaii
larities in how ballots were vice president; Ed Ferris, secre-
mailed to and collected from tary-treasurer; and incumbent
members in Panama. ILWU Coast Committee members
represents 3,000 dockworkers Frank Ponce De Leon and Cam
and pilots in Panama in addi- Williams.
tion to 35,000 dock and ware-
...Shapiro
From Page 7
movement?
The Carpenters left the AFL-CIO just prior to
when I joined. So my impression partly is just
understanding the history of the AFL and the
CIO is that it's been pretty common
throughout the decades for there to be a lot
of flux of membership within those
organizations. And particularly in the craft
unions, whether the unions are in the AFL or
not, there are jurisdictional disputes. Certainly
not being part of the AFL or the Building
Trades in certain areas affects that. There
could be a perception that there's more
jurisdictional raiding, but I haven’t found that
to be the case. I think the Carpenters union is
aggressive about organizing, and that's
important. But I think there’s an overarching
problem in craft unions in particular where
there is way too much time and resources
and energy spent on infighting and concern
about jurisdiction.
You’ve just been elected to head the
largest construction union in the
Pacific Northwest. What direction
would you like to lead the regional
council in?
My main focus is around organizing and
growth. Having a really aggressive growth
strategy is important for our union and for
any of the craft unions, especially when the
December 7, 2018 | PAGE 11
vast majority of construction work
nationwide is nonunion. That affects us at
contract time, and pretty much any time
we're looking at wages and security and
safety for our members. In order to organize
and grow, we need a much higher degree of
participation from the membership. I think
historically the union has not necessarily
believed that we could get that level of
engagement from our members. That is not a
vision I share. I believe that we absolutely
CAN. Internal organizing is something we’re
going to be focusing a lot more energy on, so
that we can go back to the basic principles of
organizing that formed our union. We're not
going to do it without the members, plain
and simple. We just need to go back to those
basics.
Call or Visit Us Today
IronworkersCU.com • 877-769-4766
