From the NW Labor Press: Though the six-year union contract between International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the multi-employer Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) expired July 1, union members continue to load and unload ships on West Coast ports. Neither side is publicly discussing progress in the talks, which have been under way since May 12. Key bargaining issues include how to deal with new technologies like robotics that will reduce the need for workers, and how to maintain health benefits after 2018, when the Affordable Care Act’s so-called “Cadillac” tax kicks in. Photo by David Porter, ILWU Local 8.
Excerpts from the Northwest labor Press:
The ILWU-PMA contract covers nearly 20,000 longshore and clerk members at 29 West Coast ports. It’s the largest contract for the 37,000-member union, which represents dock workers in California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii.
Neither ILWU nor PMA appeared to be getting ready for a strike or lockout. The two sides have issued joint statements about the negotiations, without going into detail. On July 7, the sides announced a three-day break from negotiations while ILWU took part in further negotiations with the Northwest grain exporters.
ILWU kept negotiating with PMA past the contract expiration in 2008, too, and the two sides were able to reach an agreement that preserved health benefits, gave raises of $5 an hour over six years, and lessened the impact of technological change on members. That settlement followed much-more-heated bargaining in 2002, which culminated in PMA employers locking out ILWU members for 10 days — until then-President George W. Bush asked a federal court to order employers to end the lockout.
This year’s ILWU bargaining positions at the PMA negotiations were determined in February and March at a two-week meeting in San Francisco of delegates from every West Coast port. At that meeting, delegates heard from representatives of dockworker unions from around the world, who pledged their support in the event of a dispute. The meeting established that priorities include fair raises, and maintaining health care and retirement benefits.
“Longshore members and clerks have made it clear that they want a contract with stronger safety provisions, more secure benefits, greater respect for ILWU jurisdiction, and a reasonable approach to new technology,” said ILWU President Bob McEllrath in the March 2014 issue of The Dispatcher, ILWU’s newspaper.