Outspoken: Local 54 member Stefanie Flores (left) and Local 19 member Ali Vekich.
An estimated 60 ILWU members attended the semi-annual Labor Notes “Troublemakers” Conference in Chicago on April 6-8. This was the biggest Labor Notes Conference to date, drawing 3,000 rank-and-file union members, leaders and grassroots activists from across the US and abroad.
Attendees were able to choose from over 100 workshops that covered topics including organizing, media, collective bargaining strategies, leadership development, racial and gender discrimination, and immigrant worker justice. Topics covered a wide-range of issues but the overarching theme was how to revitalize the labor movement by encouraging greater membership involvement, more union democracy and effective organizing campaigns.
ILWU Members at the Conference
ILWU attendees at the conference came from locals and Inlandboatmen’s Union regions all along the West Coast. Most of the ILWU participants were younger, energetic and enthusiastic about building leadership skills to help them better participate in the life of their local unions. ILWU members came from as far away as Dutch Harbor, Alaska, and the delegation included workers from both the U.S. and ILWU Canada.
This was the first Labor Notes Conference for IBU member Terence Candell, who works as a deck hand on the Golden Gate Ferries in San Francisco.
“It was eye opening and had a great effect on me. It gave me so many tools and information—I picked up a lot of books to take home.”
Another IBU member, Ryan Brazeau, serves as a business agent on the Washington State Ferries, and noted that the conference offered “a good opportunity to hear what other unions are doing to organize their membership. I sat in on a workshop that featured several small group conversations about unions representing both public and private sector workers. One of the speakers was from the Chicago Teachers Union who discussed organizing teachers and staff at charter schools, and he was spot-on. Another workshop I attended on inequality was very interactive and involved several activities in which groups had to come together to ask questions. It was good to hear why people sometimes come at problems from different angles.”
Myka Dubay of Local 5 took home several resources from the conference.
“Meeting people from across the country with common issues was very helpful. My local is organizing around inclusionary language for our LGBTQ members, and it was good to see how other unions are organizing around these issues, and how workers can set up support networks within their unions and workplaces.”
Organizing in Open Shop America
Local 13 Vice President Gary Herrera.
The theme of this year’s conference was mobilizing rank-and-file union members to fight anti-union attacks, including the pending Supreme Court decision known as “Janus v. AFSCME,” which has been covered in recent Dispatcher articles. There are now 26 states with “open shop” laws that were once found mostly in southern states.
The Janus decision will soon impose these anti-union laws on all public sector union members throughout the country. Anti-union business groups have been financing the Janus case in hopes of weakening or destroying unions. Their goal is to have the court continue the requirement that unions must represent all workers covered by a contract – while removing the current obligation for all workers to pay either dues or fair share fees that cover the expense of representing members.
Different approaches
Many workshops focused on how different unions have been preparing for the Janus decision before it becomes law. Most are creating internal networks of workplace leaders who are talking with co-workers about the need to remain united in a strong union. The short-term goal in these talks is to have everyone “re-sign” a membership card and confirm support for their union in order to win good contracts. Longer-term goals could include a transition away from old “business union” or “service models” based on individual grievance solutions – and moving toward a “collective action” or “organizing” model that seeks to involve members in solving problems together with collective action strategies.
Considerable time was devoted to exploring “how-to” details for conducting effective conversations, mapping workplaces, identifying natural leaders and key groups within each work area. Unions following this route are reporting good results with some creating new networks of engaged members who are trained to use collective action strategies for problem solving.
They also report a welcome reduction in the number of lengthy, frustrating and time-consuming grievances because workers discover the benefits of using their power on the shop floor to win more victories than are possible with traditional grievances.
Several workshops also addressed the ongoing problem of public budget cuts that hurt ferry workers, teachers, librarians, bus drivers, public hospital staff and other important jobs that all depend on reasonable levels of public funding. Strategies in these workshops included how to hold elected officials more accountable, how to make big business and the rich pay their fair share of taxes, and how to win broad public support for important government programs – from Medicare and Social Security down to mosquito abatement and restaurant health inspections.
Longshore members meet
A highlight for many ILWU attendees was an informal meeting of longshore workers that brought together members from both the ILWU and International Longshoremen’s Union (ILA) who work at ports in in the Gulf, South, East Coast and Great Lakes regions. The meeting provided a forum for dockworkers on both coasts to share experiences and solidarity. Local 13 Vice President Gary Herrera attended the event in Chicago, including the dockworker meeting.
“The conference was a powerful dose of inspiration to me,” he said, “I experienced solidarity among the working class that I haven’t felt in a long time. The power of all these union members coming together as one – and ready to fight – was simply amazing.”
Herrera was joined in Chicago by Local 13 Labor Relations Representative Mike Dimon. Before attending, both had been talking about starting an education program and other steps to encourage member participation, build solidarity and promote leadership skills. “The Labor Notes Conference gave us good solutions from an incredible array of workshops that brought together rank-n-filers, officers, and organizers who want unions to succeed and grow,” said Dimon. “I loved the conference and was surprised by signs of hope for the future – and shocked by the challenges that some members still face in their unions. We intend to share what we learned with others and keep working to involve new members and encourage new leaders.”
Ali Vekich, a young worker from Local 19, was also enthusiastic about the meeting. “I loved the energy there. It was great to meet new people from the East Coast and share notes. It was also a good opportunity to debunk some myths about the ILA and figure out ways we can support each other.”
Labor Notes began in 1979 as an independent monthly labor magazine that also publishes a series of books for union members, including the “Troublemakers Handbook” and “Secrets of a Successful Organizer.” In addition to their next semi-annual national Conference in 2020, they produce smaller regional conferences and workshops across the country.