To The Rank And File Of The ILWU:
As you are no doubt aware there has been a rerun of an election called for. Once again someone has cried foul after losing an International Office election. The times before when foul was called I had thought there was some validity to the charges. Now we as a body are ask to re-vote for the office of International Vice President-Hawaii.
I had read the resolution from Local 10’s e-board and was little confused as to what was actually going on. Then I read brother Jack Mulcahy’s post supporting the re-run which I must admit caught me by surprise because in most matters I tend to side with him. But in this one I very much disagree. You see I had also read what the International Election Procedures Committee (IEPC) had reported on concerning the matter and the International Executive Board (IEB) in overturning the recommendations of that board.
Wes Furtado filed a challenge to the election citing 11 violations. The IEPC ( a committee of 3 International Executive Board members chosen by the International Convention) unanimously denied 10 of the allegations. The 11th they as a committee also denied (by a vote of 2 to 1). This 11th charge was that Furtado on the last day (at 2:45pm) available to him requested the membership eligibility list which was his right. This charge was an allegation that to my understanding was never substantiated, but just alleged as noted by the IEPC. But the IEPC agreed that Furtado had been improperly denied this, BUT and it is a BIG BUT, the majority of the committee citing criteria from the constitution (the ILWU constitution that must be the final authority on matters such as these) that the charge MUST be shown to have effected the outcome of the election. And rightfully so in my opinion because Furtado having a voter eligibility list or not can have no basis for a challenge under the constitutions criteria. It had NO EFFECT on the outcome of the vote. And I think it is reasonable to assume that if such a list was so important why did Mr. Furtado wait until the absolute last minute to ask for one if it was not some kind of a ploy in an attempt to change the elections outcome.
So the International Election Procedures Committee was not only fair to Mr. Furtado it kept it’s ruling within the letter and spirit of the ILWU Constitution. But the International Executive Board overturned the IEPC in what could be construed as a political ploy to overturn this one election. I say political ploy because one only has to look at who voted for the re-run and on who’s ticket Mr. Furtado was running on.
Also one must look at the vote tallies from the last election to see if Hawaii as a whole had voted for Mr. Futado and if their duly elected representation would be effected by this. But the official vote was that Leonard Hoshijo won Hawaii by 233 votes out of 3081 total votes. Almost the exact amount (233/291) of the total coast-wide tally that Mr. Hoshijo also won. So basically with the mainland splitting down the middle (Hoshijo - 4202, Furtado - 4144) for both candidates, Hawaii was indeed able to chose their Vice President. I think it should also be noted that the Hawaiian vote at the IEB was not unanimously in favor of the re-run but was 4/3 in favor.
So I am asking the rank and file to look to the facts in this dispute. Read your dispatcher where all the information is available for the rank and file to read.
Leonard Hoshijo fairly won the election as the Hawaiian V. P. There was no overt act to subvert the election process. This is a ploy by a few ILWU politicians that will cost you, the rank and file, $80,000. 00 in YOUR dues money in their attempt to elect whom they want, not what the rank and file wants. It was not the will of the rank and file. Neither was it the decision of the committee that governs these matters. The rank and file voted in Leonard Hoshijo as the Hawaiian V. P. A few politicians want to subvert that.
As Harry Bridges was fond of saying. . . . . . Tell the rank and file the truth and they will vote what is best for the Union. . . . . . . . Do the right thing. . . . . . . . . . (again, because after all you are paying for it!!)
VOTE FOR LEONARD HOSHIJO
Tim 35181
