UPDATE - U.S. ports deal includes modernization of docks
Sunday November 24, 5:37 pm ET
By Michael Kahn
(adds details throughout)
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 24 (Reuters) - U.S. West Coast longshoremen and port employers on Sunday outlined a six-year contract deal that paves the way for a long-awaited modernization of the waterfront and ends a bitter labor dispute that had threatened to derail the U.S. economy.
While employers and union officials released few details about the agreement reached late Saturday night, the deal gives the International Longshore & Warehouse Union the significant wage and pension increases it was seeking.
The pact between the 10,500-member union and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which represents port employers, will also lead to new labor-saving technology that shippers say is needed to make the ports more efficient.
The deal now goes before a union caucus Dec. 9 and ILWU President James Spinosa said longshoremen will probably vote on the agreement in early January. Until then, the longshoremen will work under the terms of the old contract.
"I'm looking forward to bringing this package to our members," Spinosa told a morning news conference. "It is a great victory for the ILWU."
President George W. Bush welcomed the deal, which comes at a critical time for a slumping U.S. economy because the docks handle more than half of U.S. trade and any port disruptions ripple through world markets.
A 10-day lockout by the employers in September and October, paralyzed billions of dollars worth of U.S. trade, and forced the Bush administration to invoke the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act to get the ports back in business. That injunction will now expire on Dec. 27.
BUSH PLEASED BY AGREEMENT
"I am very pleased that labor and management have reached an agreement concerning the West Coast ports," Bush said in a statement released by the White House. "This agreement is good for workers, good for employers and it's good for America's economy."
Federal Mediator Peter Hurtgen, who had been pressing to get a deal done by Thanksgiving, said the six-year contract was double the length of most collective bargaining agreements and would be good news for a slack U.S. economy.
"It provides stability for the industry and the economy," Hurtgen said.
PMA President Joe Miniace said the agreement also means that cargo should move smoothly through the ports during the busy holiday season -- a welcome relief to retailers who had seen their products pile up at the ports during the lockout.
Much of the cargo that comes through West Coast docks are goods such as toys, produce and manufacturing parts that move to and from Asia.
"Docks are clearing and productivity is up," Miniace said. "We are very pleased."
Reaching a deal, however, was no easy feat. One of the key sticking points was new technology -- such as computerized cargo handling machinery -- that employers say was needed to make the ports stretching from San Diego to Seattle more efficient.
Federal Mediator Hurtgen said the deal allows the shippers to implement new technology, which will lead to an estimated 400-500 job losses, but gives the union control over remaining positions and any new ones created from technology.
MILESTONE AGREEMENT
Spinosa compared the technology agreement to the milestone deal brokered by famed union leader Harry Bridges in the 1960s that allowed the industry to ship cargo in containers that could be loaded on to waiting trucks rather than piling goods on pallets.
In exchange for accepting containerization, union workers shared in the wealth stemming from the boosted productivity -- gains that have made ILWU members some of the best-paid blue-collar workers in the world.
Annual wages ranged from $80,000 to $150,000 before the increases in the proposed contract.
"The industry is in the midst of making major changes in technology," Spinosa said. "It is now time for this industry to retool and move even further into this technology package."
The deal also brings to an end a bitter dispute that led to the 10-day shutdown and accusations that union members were using deliberate work slowdowns -- a charge dockworkers denied -- to gain leverage in the negotiations.
The talks reached a low this past summer when the union stormed out of the first meeting with the federal mediator after PMA President Miniace brought armed guards along. The port employers had said they were there because Miniace had received death threats.
Miniace added the agreement was difficult to achieve but the length of the contract would allow both sides to forge better working relationships after the acrimonious talks.
"This is going to be a new era for our waterfront," Miniace said.
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