Shippers, Port Workers Far Apart as Labor Talks Loom
By DAVID GREENBERG
Workers and ship companies at Los Angeles, Long Beach and other West Coast ports finally have begun what promises to be raucous talks on a new three-year contract.
Clashing over technology and its effect on jobs, what looked to be a relatively peaceful process last winter has been reduced to a slew of threats of work stoppages, accusations of bad-faith bargaining, and the possibility of the first dock strike in 31 years.
Work stoppages at West Coast ports would have a potentially big impact on Orange County companies that rely on them for importing and exporting products.
“If there is a strike or a lock-out here, it could cause an international financial crisis,” said Stephen Cohen, co-director of the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy, which has conducted a study on the potential impacts of a strike. “It could seriously hurt the economic recovery this summer.”
The current three-year contract expires June 30, at a time when retailers start ordering goods for the holiday season. Both sides had been optimistic earlier this year about settling and had planned to start negotiations as early as March. But things have deteriorated and the talks began last week.
A 10-day strike or port shutdown would cost the national economy $19.4 billion, according to the study. Local, state and federal governments would lose $693 million in tax receipts.
The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports account for at least two-thirds of the $309 billion worth of container traffic that passes through West Coast ports annually, Cohen said.
While the International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents the ship and stevedore companies, are cautiously optimistic that a strike can be avoided, they vowed not to sign an agreement unless their demands are met.
With hourly wages at $27.68 to $51.55 for longshoremen, $33.90 to $58.40 for foremen and $27.18 to $53.17 for clerks, the union’s demand for a $1 per hour raise for all workers is almost an afterthought.
The major roadblock to an agreement is the union’s trepidation over computerized systems the Pacific Maritime Association claims will make the ports run more efficiently.
Technologies include computers that automatically retrieve information from shippers via the Internet and video cameras that capture and transmit container, truck and chassis license plate numbers directly into databases.
The Pacific Maritime Association said it has offered a written guarantee that all current workers, including the clerks that currently store this information manually, will keep their jobs until they retire.
Union officials said they have no problem with new technology as long as it does not eliminate jobs. The union filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board contending that the Pacific Maritime Association is using unfair labor practices by not revealing the specifics of its technology plans ahead of the talks.
The union, whose membership includes 6,000 full- and 1,000 part-time workers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, also wants more health benefits, such as orthopedic shoes for workers who are on their feet all day, and nursing home care for ex-laborers.
Greenberg is a staff writer with the Los Angeles Business Journal.
