1588 members overwhelmingly passed an imperative motion to fight for a strong Deep Sea Master and Portwide contract at the largest membership meeting in recent history Sept. 22. The current six-year Deep Sea contract, set to expire in September 2010, contains deep wage divisions between top tier and bottom tier workforce. 1588 members rejected that contract in 2004 by a two-to-one margin and have now thrown their support behind a campaign to fight for a good contract. Below is the full text of the resolution

Funding our Future: Motion to Approve Funds for Deep-Sea Master Contract and Port-Wide Contract Campaign 2008-2009

Whereas, the next round of contract negotiations are the most critical in a generation since containerization.

Whereas, the ILA has called for early negotiations.

Whereas, at stake are the elimination of wage tiers, royalty tiers, non-union work, benefit plans, safety, and the implementation of labor saving technology.

This fall we mark a year-and-a half of member control over Local 1588. This newsletter contains a report to the membership on the activity of our administration half way through our term.

The Executive Board and I have worked hard to overhaul a Local that was run for decades by figures associated with organized crime and then for several years by court appointed officials with no union backgrounds.

See New York Times Article

To increase participation and involvement in the Union, the Executive Board has adopted a quarterly schedule of General Membership meetings, shop meetings, and open Executive Board meetings. Each month, members will have the opportunity to attend one of those meetings. If you have an item for the agenda of any of these meetings, please bring it to our attention.

Below is the complete schedule for 2008. All meetings are at the Local 1588 Union Hall unless otherwise specified below. The schedule is posted on the web site. Please note the first round of shop meetings, the week of February 4th. Meetings for P&O, Maher, and the Scrap Gang may need to be changed if ships are in on the scheduled dates.

Click on 2008 Meeting Schedule (pdf) for the complete calendar at a glance or view Upcoming union meetings.

Deep Sea members can now find participating health plan dentists on line.