(See below for pictures!)

Over 55 members from six ports, including Miami and Charleston, traveled to Washington D.C. on August 26 to protest a possible contract extension at an emergency ILA International Executive Board meeting called by President Richard Hughes.

“I got up at midnight so I could be here,” said Monique Ibarrondo, a member of ILA Local 1588 in Bayonne, New Jersey. “My father was a longshore worker for 48 years. I want to be here as long as he was. I will fight to maintain a fair standard of living.”

A delegation of LWC members tried to get into to the meeting to present a prepared statement against the extension that would give up our October wage increases. Hughes refused to let the rank-and-file members in.

As the picket grew in energy outside, inside the boardroom Executive VP Harold Daggett tried to speak about the contract. Hughes shut down the meeting in response.

Bobby Gleason, ILA Secretary-Treasurer and Jim McNamara, ILA Director of Public Relations, came out to the picket to explain that they did not know about a contract deal and that the meeting had been shut down.

Kimoko Harris, an ILA Business Agent from ILA Local 1883 in Wilmington, Delaware, said “I’m here to put some sense into the ILA Executive Board. We’re bargaining with USMX at a disadvantage right now. Lets give the Obama stimulus plan a chance to work. We’re seeing signs of an economic recovery. The contract isn’t up for another year, we have time.”

LWC members had an impact, showing that not involving the rank-and-file will come at a cost for the ILA leadership.