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.

Urgent projects in busy first year
The Local campaigned successfully for new contracts at the three Warehouse Division companies. We waged an intense battle for a fair severance agreement and job relocation for NEAT and D&L members whose companies are shutting down. Our members mounted a campaign for industrial jobs at the Military Ocean Terminal. We joined with another ILA local to pressure Ceres to comply with seniority agreements and to properly staff its operation. We fought for increased safety measures at Sims-Metal and pushed seniority at Global. All while we established basic systems for bookkeeping, record keeping, grievance handling and created new policies for the officers and staff.

Solid finances
We overhauled the monitoring of expenditures and made our finances transparent to the membership. Dollars that that used to line the pockets of racketeers or went to the full-time salaries of court appointed monitors are now put to use for the membership. Our decision to have officers work on the docks has freed up additional resources. Now it's time to use these resources where they are needed most: mobilizing for our upcoming Deep Sea Division Master Contract.

Winning a fair contract
We face the most critical contract for Longshoremen in a generation. We will be calling on the membership to join with other ILA locals in a campaign to build power so that we can aggressively defend and improve our wages, benefits and working conditions. (Please look at our article on the Convention and Contract.) Most importantly we will call on the membership to become active and involved in the battle for a brighter future.

In Solidarity, Anthony Falcicchio President