We are the ILWU: IBU Hawai’i region

The Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific (IBU) is the ILWU’s Marine Division and one of the largest inland maritime unions in the United States. The Hawai’i Region of the IBU represents about 300 mariners who work primarily on barges, ocean-going towing vessels, and harbor tugs that provide ship assist work in and out of all the harbors in the Hawaiian Islands.

Essential part of the supply chain

“The big container ships and oil tankers that are coming in or out of the port are extremely large and cumbersome,” explained Captain Mike Anderson, Jr., Director of the Hawai’i Region of the IBU. “They need assistance from the more agile and powerful towing vessels — the harbor tugs— to hook up to them outside the harbor and bring them in, spin them around, and get them to the pier safely and controlled so that longshore workers can tie them up and start working the cargo in a timely fashion.”

In addition to the ocean-going and harbor tugs, IBU members in Hawai’i also work on freight and fuel barges that are a crucial part of the supply chain delivering essential goods throughout the islands.

“We rely heavily on these freight and fuel barges going inter-island on a regular schedule,” said Anderson. “They transport everything from cars, construction materials, toilet paper, food, livestock, perishables – you name it, and it’s nonstop. We have to deliver in good weather, bad weather, holidays, nighttime, daytime, whenever.”

Captains to cooks

Anderson said that IBU Hawai’i represents a wide range of mariners on these vessels.

“We represent everybody on the vessels from the captain all the way down. We have captains of the tugs; we have the mates.; we have licensed engineers, Able Seaman, and cooks.”

Hazardous duties

The work performed by IBU members is highly skilled and potentially hazardous, stressful, and requires long stretches where mariners are separated from their families.

“The first danger that comes to mind is the conditions. You basically have the entire Pacific Ocean trying to squeeze through the Hawaiian Island chain; we have strong trade winds here and obviously large swells,” Anderson said. “The next thing that comes to mind is the weather. When a hurricane comes, our mariners grab the barges and go out to sea, instead of staying in the harbor. If a storm makes landfall, they want to be able to be the first people in to resupply the islands affected by the storm.”

In addition to conditions, the nature of the work also poses many challenges including a lack of sleep, Anderson said. “It’s a 24/7 operation; the boat never stops, really. Mariners work in shifts around the clock. There are a lot of potential hazards. When you are towing a barge behind you— everything is heavy — shackles, chains, and wire can snap, then whip back and get you. People lose fingers in the lines. Thank God, we haven’t had anything like that happen in quite a while. Then there is the stress of being away from your family. Most mariners work on a vessel for a month at a time or more. You live with your shipmates on the tug. You’re away from your family all that time, and it’s a grind. On top of that, you always have the threat of a fire on the vessel, but that’s the inherent risk.”

“These guys are under a lot of pressure,” Anderson said. “Not anybody can just walk off the street and do a job like this. It takes a long time to perfect the craft, and mariners take a lot of pride in that, including myself.”

Growing the IBU

The IBU Hawai’i Region continues to organize with the help of the ILWU Hawai’i International Organizing Department, Anderson said. “The important thing to me is that we continue growing. It’s tough to organize in this region; there’s a limited pool here in Hawai’i,” he said, “but we’re growing slowly, and I hope that continues.”

There has been a recent organizing success: A new group of workers in Pearl Harbor who retrieve training torpedos for the U.S. Navy voted to join the IBU. Another group of workers in Kauai who also do this work are long-time members of the IBU.

“They go offshore, and they recover torpedoes, pull them up on the aft deck of the vessels, and then bring them back,” Anderson explained. “These are dummy torpedos, but retrieving them from the ocean, especially in Hawai’i, with dangerous offshore conditions — the wind, waves, and swell — it’s not an easy task. They’re doing it at night. They’re doing it in a swell, and they’re doing it quickly. They came to us and felt that they were really underpaid and not well represented. And those guys hit the ground running. They were 100% committed from the get-go and are a great addition to the IBU.”

Captain Mike Anderson, Jr.
Regional Director
IBU Hawai’i

My first full-time IBU job was not until 2013. I had been in other unions sailing before, and I had some non-union jobs as well. I started in this profession when I was 19 years old. I haven’t done anything but be a mariner since I was out of high school. I grew up around the water and always loved fishing, diving, surfing, and boating.

I didn’t really have a plan after high school; I wasn’t really a college guy. I wanted to go work offshore and was able to do that. I started out Hawsepiping — that’s what we call working from the ground up. I never went to a maritime academy. I started as a deckhand, cook, wiper, and worked all the way up to captain. I navigated my way from non-union to union companies. The union jobs were just heads and tails above anything else. The union pay was always either better or par but the treatment — the schedule, the medical, the pension, workplace safety, the training and professional development — all that stuff was way better. I really took notice of that at a young age.

My first union job as an Able Seaman (AB) was really good. I completed my hitch, but there was no work for me at the hall. So, I went back to a non-union company. Once you’ve seen the other side, you realize you’re going backward on pay, medical, and workplace conditions. You know, the ship conditions were unsafe. Early on I knew that union was the way I wanted to go; it was just a matter of getting established. I was able to get a foothold, establish myself in the union, and build some seniority. I saw how important was to be active, whether you’re a shop steward, on the negotiating committee, or on the executive board.

I slowly got involved with all those committees, and then eventually ran for the elected position, which is Regional Director, two years ago during the pandemic. We get a lot of people who come here from non-union companies who have never had a union job, and they don’t know what to expect. After about three weeks on the job here, they call me up, and they’re like, “If I would have been more educated about this, I’d have been here 10 years ago.”

At our meetings, I always tell the membership, “You are the union. When you say ‘the union,’ you’re talking about every person in here, and it starts with you. The rank and file are the first line of defense.

It starts with your voice.” Where else except in a collective bargaining unit, do you have a voice to tell the employer: ‘Hey, this isn’t right, this isn’t going to work for us. This is unsafe, this pay is unfair,’ and then collectively push to win your demands? So, it starts with them. If not you, then who?

Spencer Frary

I was working as a lifeguard out of high school, and we had the small zodiacs, so that kind of got me interested in boats. Then I went into parasail and dive boats, and eventually, I started working local cruise ships and ended up here at Young Brothers towing company.

I didn’t set out to be a mariner; it kind of happened that way. I became an IBU member around 2001. I was AB out on charter tugs doing the inner-island long-haul towing. I did that for a few years and slowly moved up to Second Mate and then Chief Mate. I started to train driving the long-haul tugs when the opportunity came to move over to the harbor, so I jumped on that. I’ve been doing the long-haul tugs for 15 years or so. It was great; you’d get a nice chunk of time off. You work about four to six weeks on and then have four to six weeks off. That’s great when you’re younger. You can travel and have some adventures but now that I am a little older, it’s nice to kind of be home every night. My wife enjoys that a lot more.

In the harbor, we’re doing a lot of the same thing. We’ve got interisland barges coming and going. Those are pretty much daily, and then we also have the Matson and Pasha ships coming in and out. That’s the main bread and butter of the job, and then we saw also have like a lot of one-offs. We will go to Barbers Point for ship jobs or Pearl Harbor for something a little different. That’s always kind of nice because it’s different work out there. We move the dry dock in and out. Anything that involves moving around the harbor, we’ve probably got our fingers on it.

Since I started, I feel like our situation as union members has just gotten better. More people are getting involved, and they’re getting a little more enthusiastic on the job. It’s gotten stronger and better as we move forward together as a group.

I haven’t always been active, but this year I’m going to be on the committee negotiating the contract. I’m excited about that. I haven’t been one of those guys that was really enthusiastic in the past and wasn’t doing as much as I should have with the union. But this year I’m ready to step it up. I’ve been here long enough that I feel like it’s time for me to gain a little more knowledge in that area.

Joshua Ano

I started in the IBU in 2006, and before that was in another union. I’m the engineer on the boat. I make sure all the equipment is in good working order.

What I like best about the job is the people I work with and the things that we do. It’s amazing to see all the cargo that’s being moved.\

Most people don’t really understand how they get their milk and food, their Christmas gifts, or whatever. It’s just amazing to see these huge container ships come in with everything that you see in the stores.

I enjoy working in the harbor, especially with other IBU members. They all work hard for their families, and I enjoy what I do. It’s not the same every day. There’s always something different. The weather can turn on you. It can be sunny one minute and the next thing you know, you jump on the barge, and it’s pouring rain. But it’s fun. I’ve been doing this for 26 years.

When I first joined, I didn’t know too much about the IBU and ILWU — about how everything was structured. I got involved in different ways. I was kind of nervous because the other guys knew a lot more than me. I started showing up for all the meetings that I could — the stop-work meetings, and all the Zoom meetings. I tried to get involved or help.

If they need something moved or signs put up about the meeting — just tried to help and learn more about what I can do as a union member. There’s a lot of stuff that goes on. I had no clue. There are a lot of working parts to it, and people behind the scenes doing a lot more than you think.

I just like what I do, and I appreciated the IBU for what they do for me and my family. It’s because of the union that I can provide for my family and have a better and safer work environment. It’s a great place. I can’t stress that enough. I want t