Potential Strike Looms At Area Ports

By Kurt Helin
Editor

The risk of a strike that could shut down the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles still looms, but talks between union clerical workers in the ports and the shippers whose goods they document have continued this week at a feverish pace, keeping the strike at bay.

At issue are salary, benefits, pensions and more for workers of the Local 63 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). While this is a relatively small 850-person union, it has the support of the larger arms of the ILWU — and their 7,000 members — to honor any picket lines if there is a strike. Such a strike would virtually shut down the ports.

That has led to talks this week that have at the very least postponed a strike that had originally been called for Monday.

The two sides resumed negotiations on Wednesday, but no deal was announced before this publication’s deadline. No strike date was set either.

Both sides had previously reported that a deal appeared close in negotiations Monday. But talkss were postponed for 24 hours due to a family emergency for one of the key negotiators.

Under the expired contract, a clerical worker earned $37.50 an hour, or about $78,000 a year, working full time. There also were health benefits, a pension and 20 paid holidays a year.

While the latest offer from the shipping lines reportedly includes pay increases, the companies alsos are looking for flexibility in employment levels (right now, the contract requires them to replace all people who retire or are out sick).

Port of Long Beach officials are not directly involved in the negotiations, but they are interested observers. The port leases the land to the cargo shippers for terminals, those shippers in turn hire the union workers to load and unload the ship.

A strike could be devastating to the region’s economy.

A 2002 lockout of the ILWU during contract negotiations shut down the ports for about 10 days. Economic studies suggested that the shutdown impacted more than 30,000 jobs in Southern California and cost the national economy about $1 billion a day.