John M. Bowers, President of ILA for 20 Years, Passes Away at 88;
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| 8/21/2011 |
John M. Bowers, who from 1987 until 2007, led the International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO as its International President where he was widely recognized for bringing growth and stability to the cargo shipping industry while negotiating exceptional benefits for ILA dock workers at ports from Maine to Texas, passed away today at 88. He died at his home on Long Island and funeral arrangements are pending
A Wake will be held for John Bowers at Horn and Dannecker Funeral Home, 445 West 43rd Street (Between 8th and 9th Avenues), Manhattan on Tuesday and Wednesday, August 23 and 24 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at Guardian Angel Roman Catholic Church, 193 Tenth Avenue (at 21st Street) in Manhattan at 10 a.m. on Thursday, August 25th.
"The ILA family and the entire labor movement today has lost one of its most outstanding and important figures in John Bowers," said Harold Daggett., who was recently elected as ILA President. "John Bowers helped shape this ILA into one of the most successful unions. Our respect throughout the country and around the world is a tribute to John Bowers.
Richard P. Hughes, Jr., who replaced John Bowers as president in 2007 and was recently elected president emeritus, said of his close friend and colleague for four decades. "I have lost my friend, my mentor and my sympathies are extended to the Bowers family. His contributions to our industry and the world-wide labor movement were vast and his memory will endure."
Bowers was elected as the seventh international president in the ILA's century-plus history in July 1987, after having previously served as ILA Executive Vice President for 24 years. The ILA, first organized along the Great Lakes region in 1892, today represents workers on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, Great Lakes, major U.S. Rivers, Puerto Rico and Eastern Canada. The International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots; the United Marine Division Tugboat Workers; and Supreme Court Officers' Association are all affiliated with the ILA.
Mr. Bowers held elected positions as a Vice President and Executive Board member of the AFL-CIO where he assisted on Labor Federation's International Affairs Committee and Health and Safety Committee. He was also a Vice President on the Executive Boards of the AFL-CIO's Transportation Trades Department and Maritime Trades Department.
Bowers continued to hold elective office at the time of his death, nearly serving for 50 years as President of ILA Local 824, his home local on Manhattan's West Side.
During his term as International President, Bowers excelled as the union's chief negotiator where ILA members were among the highest paid maritime workers in America who also enjoyed excellent welfare and pension benefits. He earned high respect and praise among ILA employers for bringing stability and growth to the industry.
Mr. Bowers' contribution to the labor movement extended beyond America's waterfronts borders. He served on the Executive Board of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), a worldwide labor organization representing more than six million transport workers in 78 countries. He was elected as a Vice President to the ITF in March 1990 and reelected in 1994, 1998 and 2002. He also was the one-time Chairman of the ITF's Dockers Section.
His success as the ILA's chief negotiator for two decades was coupled with a crowning achievement in 1991, when Mr. Bowers founded the ILA's Civil Rights Committee. His passionate efforts to bring equity and fairness to all workplaces was recognize by the personal invitation of the late Coretta Scott King and the Martin Luther King Center, for Mr. Bowers to served as Grand Marshal for the 1994 Martin Luther King Day Parade in Atlanta.
Mr. Bowers also established the ILA Children's Fund in 1993, and named the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, Connecticut as the principal beneficiary. Through Mr. Bowers' efforts, the ILA Children's Fund raised more than $2 million for the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, benefiting children with cancer and life-threatening illnesses.
A highly decorated veteran of the U.S. Army which he served in during the Second World War as a radio operator in the Fourth Armored Division throughout Europe, John Bowers' unit won a Presidential Citation and five battle stars. Mr. Bowers has been honored throughout his career by numerous organizations and serves on a number of labor and maritime committees.
In October 1992, Mr. Bowers was awarded the maritime industry's top honor - the Admiral of the Ocean Sea Award - presented by United Seamen's Service. He was also the recipient of the 1994 Connie Award presented by the Containerization and Intermodal Institute. Other maritime honors included the Golden Compass Award, presented by the Seafarer's House at Port Everglades and induction into the International Maritime Hall of Fame by the Maritime Association, Port of New York and New Jersey.
Other organizations to honor Mr. Bowers in recent years include: American Cancer Society; Irish American Labor Coalition; Intrepid Sea-Air Space Museum and the Greater New York Councils Boy Scouts of America. He was the Man of the Year for both the Irish American Labor Coalition and the DC Friends of Ireland.
Mr. Bowers was in the forefront of instituting scholarship programs for ILA dependents, beginning in 1960 with the formation of the ILA Local 824 Scholarship - later named the Michael Bowers Memorial Scholarship Fund in honor of his father - to his years as ILA President where he serves as the labor co-chairman for the NYSA-ILA Teddy Gleason Scholarship Program.
A native of Manhattan, Mr. Bowers is survived by his wife, Marcy, two children - John and Christine and one granddaughter, Meagan. Mr. Bowers' son, John, Jr., has followed in his father's footsteps and currently serves as the ILA's Legislative and Government Affairs Director and is a Vice President on the ILA's Executive Council.