We are the ILWU: Local 18 West Sacramento, CA
ILWU Local 18 was chartered on December 8, 1964 to cover longshore work in the newly opened Port of Sacramento, CA; the port’s name was changed to the Port of West Sacramento in 2008. The new Local’s first members included 15 longshore workers who transferred from Local 54 in Stockton, CA and five barge workers who transferred from Warehouse Local 17 in Sacramento.
The Port of Sacramento opened in 1963 after the Army Corp of Engineers completed a massive federal and state-funded channel and harbor construction project that began in 1947 to create the deep water port 79 nautical miles northwest of San Francisco.
The new local met to elect their first leadership at a membership meeting on February 1, 1965. Duane Peterson was elected President, George Lemon was elected Vice President and Kenneth Steuholm, Secretary-Treasurer. Peterson and Lemon came from Local 54 and Steuholm from Local 17. Under an agreement between the Port of Sacramento and the ILWU, the 20 members of the local were guaranteed 35 hours of work each week. Their skills make it possible to fill up to three gangs.
ILWU Northern California Regional Director Bill Chester swore in the new Local 18 officers on February 17, 1965. Several Bay Area locals donated money to get the local started: Local 54 donated $250; Local 34 donated $200, and Local 10 donated $300. ILWU guests who attended the ceremony included International Executive Board member William Lawrence of Local 13; Tom Chapman, business agent from Local 26, Robert Rohatch, President of Local 10; Nate Di Biasi of Local 13, the ILWU legislative representative from Southern California; and Julius Stern, Local 10 welfare officer.
Unlike the larger ports of the West Coast, the Port of West Sacramento does not handle any containers. The port and its operations are currently under lease by SSA Marine.
The ILWU workforce handles a variety of bulk, breakbulk and project cargo, including rice, fertilizer, lumber, cement, minerals/ore, metals, wind turbines, machinery, generators, steel and heavy lifts. The Port of West Sacramento is located in the rich agricultural region of the California Central Valley.
Tim Campbell
Local 18 President
I started out here in 1993 throwing sacks of rice. I got hired on out here at ILWU Local 17 Warehouse Division, where I was a millwright all the way up until April 2, 2011, when I became a longshoreman.
I really love the camaraderie. I love being able to work shoulder-to-shoulder with my brothers and sisters. I love keeping the cargo moving. Seeing the truckers come in and out. It’s just a whole ecosystem here at the port that makes it work. From the trucks, to the ships, to visitors from other locals that come in to help us fill work. It’s really an incredible ecosystem.
This is my ninth year of being the president. I’m a working president. It’s not a paid position. I work with all my committees, my Labor Relations Committee (LRC), my Executive Board. I’m a rank-and-filer. I’m the same as anybody else. I’m no different. I just hold a position, that’s all. I enjoy helping the membership, and what better way to help to help this union than to get involved.
We’ve handled many different types of cargoes at the Port of West Sacramento — fertilizers, fish meal, coke, iron ore, black sand, project cargoes like windmills for green energy, rebar, steel, logs, plate steel, steel coils, rice, corn, grain. soybeans, break bulk bag rice, all the way to bulk brown rice and bulk white rice in the rice facility. Almost all the commodities we export are grown locally in Northern California.
Being involved in the union helps you to learn about the inner workings of it. You learn that the rank-and-file members run the union — not the officers. The more members get involved, the more they understand about how this is a bottom-up operation, and not a top-down operation. Plus, the more people that get involved, the more potential new leaders the union will have. It’s important for members to get involved understand what really goes on with union and how it works instead of just assuming how it works
In 2002 there were two people who wanted to shut the port down because they didn’t like the dust and didn’t like how the port looked. They fought to shut us down with a county ballot measure. We banded together as a group and went around and handed out pamphlets. We knocked on doors. I wore out two pairs of shoes knocking on doors and talking to people about the port. This port was never created to make a bunch of money. It was built to create good jobs and to get people closer politically to the state capitol. That was the intention behind it.
The work that the port creates here stimulates the economy locally. Most people that work here live in West Sacramento. They shop in West Sacramento. They gas up their cars in West Sacramento. They spend their money in their ‘hood. I think it’s important for people to understand that we don’t rob Peter to pay Paul. We work here; we live here; we spend here. There’s a huge misconception about us working here and then live a long way away. Those days are gone.
KaTura Law
Local 18 Chief Dispatcher & Labor Relations Committee
I was registered in 2014. I’ve been working here since 1995, after I graduated. This was my first job. I’m multi-generational. My dad, Sam Law, was a longshoreman. He was registered 1967 and retired in 2010. My brother was also registered in 2014.
I used to come out here with my dad and watch him tie up the ships. There is nothing else I ever wanted to do. I have always wanted to be a longshoreman. My dad drew me to it. For the better part of my life, my dad has been a walking boss. I was able to see him bossing the dock — keeping cargo moving, settling disputes, negotiating between the employer and longshore. It drew me. I found it fascinating. I didn’t know anything else but longshoring.
This job has been everything I’ve expected and more. Getting to drive the equipment, loading the rice, steel, lumber — whatever the commodity is; getting to travel and the opportunity to go to Stockton and San Francisco. The possibilities are endless.
Being able to be in a leadership position is pretty cool. I get to see the ins and outs of the industry, not only as a worker and longshoreman, but I get to see the side of business negotiations, and meetings with the Labor Relations Committee (LRC). I get to see how we negotiate with employers. I get to see contract issues. I get to see resolutions being formed, referrals for more longshoremen. I’m a part of all those things.
The one job that I really enjoy is a hold job — working inside of the ship. At the end of the day, you can see what you’ve done. You’re in there putting the pieces together and making things fit nice and tight, so there are no gaps, no holes, no anything. At the end of the day, you look back over the hatch, you’re like, “I did that.”
I wanted to run for Chief Dispatcher because I felt I would do my absolute best for our union. The opportunity just fell into my lap. There was one person who was moving up to a walking boss and it left an open position. I thought that this was something that I could do. It is a very detail-oriented job, which I am. I knew that I could do the job, and I just jumped right in.
Our motto is “An injury to one is injury to all.” I really live by that. We’re in this together. I’m trying to bring that back, because it kind of gets a little bit lost. That slogan was big when I came up. It was on the back of every shirt. If something happens to my union brother, it’s like something happening to me. We have to stick together so that we all can move forward with our common goals of protecting our docks, protecting our workers, and just keeping this thing going for the next generation.
The union is changing. When I first came here, there were so few women. And now we’re booming. When I first came out here, they screamed and hollered at me. I was an 18-year-old kid with long fingernails, and they were like, “What the hell are you doing out here? You don’t belong out here.” I like to see that there are more women now. I’m able to be a part of a new generation of women coming in and handling our business.
That’s one thing that is really changing. Our Secretary-Treasurer, Rena, she was the first woman in that position. I’m the first African-American woman Dispatcher. It’s a lot of firsts. Pretty soon we’ll have the first woman walking boss from Local 18. I have a daughter, and she can see that this is something she can do.
I carry with me the values that I was brought up with from my dad: Taking pride in your work, being respectful, being responsible, treating people as you want to be treated. You can get the same result by having a little more kindness. So that’s what I’m trying to lead with: Bring kindness. It’s not “I” and “you.” It’s “us.”
Derek Peterson
Local 18 Member
I got registered in San Francisco and spent 10 years there. I transferred back here after my dad passed away, to be close to my mom. After I was here for a couple of years, they wrote me in as President. The first thing I did, I tried to make registration, which I did. And that was important.
My father was Duane Peterson, started in Stockton at Local 54. They built this port, and Stockton had the jurisdiction. They opened a charter here. It was the last charter the Longshore Division opened. There were 10 people that came from Stockton. They absorbed the barge group — there were five of them that they brought over to Local 18. There’s a lot of controversy on what was supposed to take place. Some people say it was supposed to be given back to Stockton. Stockton couldn’t fill the jobs. They weren’t sending enough people down. The Local started in 1964. In 1967 it sort of solidified that the local was going to be here when they made B-men. It put them on their own page.
You know everybody that works here because we’re so small. Forty jobs on a rice ship, basically, and that’s our membership, and it also puts casuals and visitors to work. So you get to know people.
This is my life. My dad was the original President of the local. I used to come out here and fish off the docks. This was just my place I went, and somewhere where I became really close to my dad. It is where I got to know him.
This is my home. It’s not just work to me. I’ll give away everything else, and I’ll stay here and sleep. That’s how much I love it. I wouldn’t trade this place for anything.
William John Linker, Jr.
Local 18 Member
My dad came here as a B-man from Stockton. When they needed more people after the original charter members came down, my dad was part of that. My grandfather before him was a member in Stockton, too. There are quite a few Linkers running around in the ILWU.
I’ve done everything on the dock here — equipment, clerking, bossing, pretty much done it all. It’s doesn’t get monotonous. I couldn’t imagine having to go and do the same thing every day. I was dispatcher for a couple years. I have served on the Executive Board and the Labor Relations Committee.
I’m sort of getting older. I still do the hard jobs, like the shoveling. I’m probably the third oldest out here, fourth oldest maybe. I still go down in the hold, and I do enjoy working hard still. We used to throw sacks, 110-pounders, day and night. It was good work and good people that I’ve worked with. They always made it fun. Oddly enough, getting totally exhausted was fun.
Growing up, my dad taught me what it meant to be a part of the ILWU. To me it means taking care of each other. It’s not about “me, me, me.” It’s about what you can do for others. We need to give back, not just to the local community but worldwide. We need that cohesiveness, you know? United we stand, divided we fall.
I don’t know if you’re familiar with Measure L. It was a 2002 ballot measure in Yolo County. At one point, these new people that bought their houses across from the turning basin brought up this measure to do away with the port.
We hit the streets every day, passing out flyers knocking on doors and explaining the ramifications if the measure passed. All the members were out there. I think everybody did at least one walk. We were out there every day for a good month. We ended up beating the measure. It wouldn’t have affected just this local it but the whole industry, the rice industry, the local economy. Everyone really benefits from this port being here.
It is important to look at the past. It will give you a better idea of how to run things in the future. We need to understand what those that came before had to sacrifice for us to have what we have in our contract. I shook Harry Bridges’ hand when I was six or seven years old. He was having his birthday down on one of the piers, and my dad took us there. My dad told me that this was the man that made all this happen. It was really cool.
Lorin Poncia
ILWU Local 18 Labor Relations Committee
I have been here for almost nine years. My dad was a longshoreman. He passed away and I got his book, so I came in as a B-man. I knew nothing about the industry. I was working as a dental assistant before this. It’s different, because being a dental assistant is not hard labor. It’s hard being a woman out here. I think you have like a little bit more to prove. It’s been a ride, and I love it.
I was motivated by just the benefits. I have a 10-year-old. Being a dental assistant, I didn’t have any of that. I’m the youngest of four. My mom went down the list and everybody else said “No,” and she said, “You don’t have a choice. Thank your sisters.” I’m glad that happened.
What I like most about working on the waterfront is that we don’t do the same thing every day. I can do different things, clerking, driving heavy lift, taking hold jobs. It’s not just sitting at a desk or just doing the same thing every day. You never get bored. It’s always something different.
My favorite would be the hold jobs. I think it’s fun to learn the way that things are stowed. You don’t really think about like the science of it. There’s a balance to it. You don’t think about that, but when they’re out at sea, it matters the way that things are loaded. It’s like a game of Tetris.
Being an ILWU member means that I have family bigger than my blood family. Once we pass through those security gates, we’re all family. It’s good to know that you have people looking out for you and taking care of you. And you’re doing the same for them.
Coming to the union meetings helps you learn about the union. At first, meetings were weird for me. I just knew to be here on the first Tuesday of the month. I didn’t even know what I was listening to at first. Then you as you come to more meeting you start to understand and you realize, “Oh, I know, what he’s talking about.”
As ILWU members we all have common goals to offload and load cargo efficiently and safely and make sure that everybody goes home at the end of the night. Our job is labor. Don’t ever shrink it. Don’t ever make somebody think that your job is not important. That’s my opinion.