To be a union member is to be a "caretaker of a great inheritance," says Mike Piazza. "We're lucky we've had people come before us who built something out of nothing. We're watching over what someone else built and keeping it strong so we can pass it on to our kids."

Piazza is a member of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 13—a union that takes its inheritance seriously. He's a dispatcher for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, handling orders from shipping companies and sending out platoons of workers who lash huge containers to vessels and drive tons of cargo from the docks to the ships.

Every day, Piazza sees today’s global economy up close, often working on passenger ships with workers from the Philippines, Italy, former Soviet Republics and elsewhere. "Their working conditions are minimal. They have a six- or eight-month sign-up. They can't organize to better their conditions. Safety is terrible. You don't always hear about the accidents, but I know of one a couple months ago when three people died doing general maintenance when they were exposed to toxic gas. When you work alongside people where there's such a big gap between their life and your own, it hits home. I feel fortunate I'm able to have a union."

A lot of Piazza’s volunteer work at Local 13 is in an area that is central to ILWU's culture—member education.

"We're trying to offer our own members a little history of the ILWU, the sacrifices in the 1930s when they built the ILWU, why belonging to a union is important," he says. "And there's a lot that's happened in 60-odd years of contract negotiations that you can't find in any particular book. We're trying to pass on that knowledge. That's what the Education Committee is about."

Piazza is also active with ILWU's Southern California District Council in political action during election campaigns. "I've tried to get involved—leafleting houses, phone banking, things of that sort." Calling another ILWU member doesn’t feel like a cold call, he says, because "it's a call from someone they can relate to, someone they ran into at work."

He's proud of the ILWU's long tradition of democracy. "Any outsider might be surprised by the passion our members have when we're expressing our opinions. It might put some people off, but that's what Harry Bridges and the other founders of our union created. It's what they envisioned. Sometimes the debate can be a pain, but I think it's a healthy thing. You know, it's a pretty amazing organization. There's a social conscience, there are beliefs. This union is willing to stand for its values even when it's alone. When 100 people are pulling on that rope, it's easier than with 10 people."