Throughout his forty-plus year career with the ILWU, Frank has served on nearly every committee and has held nearly every elected office in Local 34, including numerous terms as its President. He has served on several longshore industry negotiating committees effectively representing the clerks locals and the whole division. Frank has also represented the Northern California locals as a member of the International Executive Board. On the IEB, he was a trustee whose function was to oversee the finances of the International; he served in a similar capacity for the Coast Committee.

In the early 1990s the longshore division ran into a jurisdictional beef with USS Posco—a steel operation in Pittsburg, CA co-owned by US Steel and Pohang Steel of Korea. Frank worked on this project building coalitions, testifying before government agencies, and in general being a thorn in the side of USS Posco. After two years an agreement was reached with USS Posco protecting the jurisdiction of the longshore division.

Frank is well respected for his thoroughness and thoughtful input to the policies and directions of the union. He always put the interest of the Union as a whole ahead of any other group. In heated debates on significant issues, he would often cut through the periphery and focus on critical points. His honesty and integrity are beyond reproach and are examples to guide all trade unionists.

Today, December 1, 1999, Frank is officially retired from the ILWU. His retirement is well deserved and will allow him to spend more time with his wife, Joan, and his family. Frank, above all, is first a loyal family man and second, a dedicated trade unionist. The International Exec-utive Board of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union thanks Frank for his many years of conscientious work for workers in general and the ILWU in particular. As importantly, we wish Frank, Joan and his family a long and healthy retirement.

Statement of Policy on Leonard Peletier

Leonard Peltier, a leader in the American Indian Movement (AIM), has spent 23 years in Prison for crimes he did not commit.

On June 26, 1975 FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams entered the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, allegedly seeking a suspect in the theft of a pair of boots. Witnesses gave conflicting reports of how a shoot out began, but at the end the two FBI agents and a young Indian named Joe Stuntz were dead. The FBI arrested Peltier and three other AIM members, Jimmy Eagle, Darrelle Butler and Bob Robideau. The death of Stuntz was not investigated; and Butler and Robideau pled self-defense and were acquitted. The government dropped charges against Eagle and concentrated all efforts on prosecuting Peltier, who the FBI had previously targeted with its notorious COINTELPRO program.

The judge, Paul Benson, refused to allow evidence of self-defense or information from the acquittals of the other AIM members. Peltier was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life terms. According to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, Peltier’s trial and previous appeals had been riddled with FBI misconduct and judicial impropriety, including coercion of witnesses, perjury, fabrication of evidence, and the suppression of evidence that could have proved his innocence. The court called the FBI’s misconduct “a clear abuse of the investigative process,” yet it ruled against a new trial because it was “reluctant to impute further improprieties to [the FBI].” Since then documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act have revealed that ballistics tests were falsified to prove that the casings found at the murder scene matched Peltier’s gun and the government has admitted that it cannot prove who killed the FBI agents. Yet Peltier continues to be denied parole or even proper medical care and nearly died a couple of years ago from the lack of treatment.

The ILWU joins with Amnesty International and human rights groups around the world in calling for Peltier’s release and a complete pardon from President Clinton.

WHEREAS: Harry Bridges was a founder of the ILWU and the union’s President from 1934 to 1977; and

WHEREAS: Harry Bridges was one of the greatest labor leaders in American history; and

WHEREAS: Recognizing and remembering Bridges’ commitment to the working class principles of solidarity and democracy is important for the future of the ILWU and the labor movement; and

WHEREAS: The City and County of San Francisco and the Port of San Francisco have recognized Bridges’ historic importance to the city by naming the new plaza on the waterfront after him; and

WHEREAS: The Committee for Harry Bridges Plaza plans to erect a statute of Harry Bridges in the new plaza and needs funds for the project; THEREFORE BE IT

RESOLVED: That the ILWU International Executive Board will donate $2,000 to the statute; and BE IT FURTHER

RESOLVED: That the Inter-national Executive Board encourage all ILWU locals, regions, affiliates and individual members to also contribute and send donations to:

The Committee for Harry Bridges Plaza

P.O.Box 475787

San Francisco, CA 94147-5787.

Statement of Policy on Discrimination and Sexual Orientation

The ILWU has, from its very first days, been a union open to people regardless of religion, race, creed, color, sex, political affiliation or nationalities. Our willingness to take into the ILWU family anyone within its jurisdiction has benefited the ILWU and all its members. This openness has attracted workers into the ILWU, was a key component of our successful organizing in Hawaii during the 1940s and later, and allowed us to remain unified in the face of employer and government attacks against the Union.

The International’s Constitution should be amended to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. While we recognize that this may be controversial among some members of the ILWU, this change is absolutely consistent with our tradition of treating all workers fairly and equally. Therefore, we recommend that Article III of the International Constitution be amended to read as follows (additions are underlined and deletions are lined out)

Article III, Objectives.

The objectives of the organization are:

“First, to unite in one organization, regardless of religion, race, creed, color, sex gender, sexual preference, political affiliation or nationality all workers within the jurisdiction of this International; …”