The International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance reached a tentative agreement for a new six-year master contract late last Friday, avoiding the possibility of a crippling strike on February 6 at 15 East and Gulf ports. The original contract expired in September 2012 and had been extended three times.
George H. Cohen, director of the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service that has been assisting the two sides in contract talks, said “I am extremely pleased to announce that the parties have reached a tentative agreement for a comprehensive successor Master agreement. The tentative agreement is subject to the ratification procedures of both parties, and, as well, to agreements being achieved in a number of local union negotiations.”
Negotiations over local issues continued this week but those negotiations do not threaten to interrupt operations in any of the ports. “The tentative agreement reflects the culmination of good faith negotiations in which the parties successfully accommodate strongly held competing positions because of their commitment to problem solving. Again, collective bargaining has proven its worth by avoiding a potential work stoppage that would have had a severe negative impact on the nation’s economy, ” Cohen said.
Meanwhile, harbor employers in Southern California were formally notified today that in contract ratification voting on Wednesday night all 16 units of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit had rejected the tentative agreements for West Coast ports that were reached on December 4, 2012. Clerical workers track cargo containers from ships to warehouses and are paid more than $40 per hour with generous medical and pension benefits. The December agreements ended a strike of 600 members of the OCU who walked off the job shutting down the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for eight days last fall. The strike reportedly cost the local economy billions of dollar.
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach continue to operate normally. Although details are scant, the rejection puts in question the settlement, and it is not known at this time whether the clerks will continue working under the terms of the old contract until a new deal is renegotiated.
