The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) this week released a summary of the details of the tentative master contract that was reached with the United States Maritime Alliance on February 1 for the East and Gulf Coasts. The tentative contract includes pay raises, a compromise on carrier-paid container royalties, continued free medical coverage for ILA members, and new language to protect workers displaced by automation. The two parties met this week to continue negotiations on the New York-New Jersey supplemental local contract. Several other local contracts have been completed, but the crucial agreement for the port of New York-New Jersey remains unsettled. The New York Shipping Association said its goal was to complete local negotiations by March 1.
The master contract will not take effect until ratified by the ILA membership; however, that will not occur until all local bargaining is completed. The local contracts cover work rules, pensions, and other port-specific issues. The ILA’s 200-member wage scale committee will meet March 12-14 in Tampa, Florida, to vote on whether to recommend the contract for rank-and-file ratification. Once ratified, the master contract will not expire until September 30, 2018.
Meanwhile, union officials in Los Angeles-Long Beach have apparently been unable to convince office clerical workers to approve the tentative agreements for West Coast ports that were reached on December 4. Harbor employers in Southern California were formally notified on February 8 that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit (OCU) had rejected the tentative agreements. Clerical workers track cargo containers from ships to warehouses. The OCU is affiliated with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), but the office workers’ contract is separate from the ILWU dockers’ contract.
From the start of the negotiations, OCU President John Fageaux said the proposed contract was not about money, but about the loss of jobs as a result of new technology. The OCU wanted ironclad guarantees that their work would not be outsourced. Employers said the proposed contract includes those guarantees–every current OCU member is guaranteed a full-time job until retirement, and employers found to be outsourcing office clerical work to non-OCU workers would be fined. Neither the union nor their employers have made any public statements as to why the office clerical workers failed to ratify the agreements, so it is not clear if the OCU felt the guarantees were insufficient. It is also not certain if employers will be willing to reopen negotiations.
In the current round of negotiations that being in April 2012, OCU struck 10 of the 14 terminal operators in the port complex for eight days late last year. Previous negotiations in 2004 and 2007 went beyond the contract expiration deadlines. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach continue to operate normally.
