On the eve of the Longshore Contract Caucus the employers threw down the gauntlet—Pacific Maritime Association CEO Joseph Miniace, in a story planted in the shipping industry publication the Journal of Commerce, declared he wanted major changes in work rules and a complete revamping of the arbitration process or he would lock out the union.

But if the PMA’s intent was to intimidate the union, it backfired. Instead, the Caucus united in firm resolve and went about its work of deciding the division’s negotiating positions and taking care of its other business.

Bargaining preparation

In figuring out the Division’s negotiating positions, the 81 Caucus delegates, representing every longshore, clerks and foreman’s local on the West Coast, had to consider more than 250 resolutions brought from their locals, as well as the recommendations from the Coast Committee (the four top officers of the Division, International President Jim Spinosa, International Vice President, Mainland Bob McEllrath and Coast Committeemen Ray Ortiz Jr. and Joe Wenzl), the Jurisdiction Committee and the Pension and Welfare Committee. Over the two weeks of discussion and debate the delegates settled on priorities and directions for the Negotiating Committee to take to the bargaining table, as well as a number of specific proposals.

The principle of taking care of the whole ILWU family guided the delegates in setting priorities. Number one on the negotiating agenda is maintenance of benefits, that is, assuring that all the health and welfare benefits pensioners and active longshore workers and their families have come to depend on is secured. The delegates also agreed to a number of other proposals for specific additions to the benefits package to bring to the table.

In the same spirit of watching out for the future of their families, the delegates’ number two concern is pensions, including looking out for current retirees, the elders who built the union. Pensioners are now paid benefits at three different rates, depending on when they retired. The delegates affirmed support of the policy of collapsing the various tiers. They are also seeking to raise the surviving spouse benefit from the current 55 percent of the pension. Increases in pension rates for active members will also be sought.

Priority number three is jurisdiction—making sure the work of loading and unloading the cargo in West Coast ports and documenting the flow of that cargo remains the job of ILWU longshore workers and future generations of ILWU members. Without that jurisdiction there would be no jobs, no benefits, no pensions and no union to secure them.

As the employers introduce new technologies onto the docks, new issues arise as to who will operate that equipment and how the work will be done. Already the union has seen some PMA employers using new computer technology to move work of documenting the movement of cargo and vessel planning off the waterfront to non-union offices. These actions are in violation of the current contract which specifically states this work is to be done by ILWU marine clerks.

The union stands by the principles of the Mechanization and Modernization Agreement that it signed with the PMA in 1960 when the two sides worked out how containerization would be introduced on West Coast ports—that no matter how the work of loading and unloading ships’ cargo and the documentation of it is changed, ILWU members will still do it and be trained to do it on the new technology. Labor-saving devices may eliminate some jobs, but other jobs are disappearing not because of technological advances, but simply because someone else is doing them. If those jobs were brought back to ILWU members, it would offset much of the losses from new technology. Where the employers expand to satellite container yards, the union will follow its work there.

The delegates also mandated the Negotiating Committee to secure the traditional longshore and clerk work that is expanding on the docks in the future. As more and more complex machinery and technology is used in longshore work, the work of maintaining and repairing that equipment continues to expand. ILWU mechanics do that work in many, but not all, terminals, and the Caucus wants that remedied in so far as enforcing the traditional and contractual work of the ILWU.

As steam ship lines are forming alliances and partnerships, intraport drayage—trucking containers from one terminal to another—is on the rise. The contract requires that this work remain with the ILWU since the movement of the cargo is, as the contract says, still under the control of one of the union’s employers. In the last contract the union negotiated language agreeing to training for some ILWU members to drive the trucks, but the PMA has assigned little of the work to union members. The Negotiating Committee will try to nail this down.

Although the PMA’s Miniace has said he wants to totally revamp the arbitration process, the delegates definitively instructed the Negotiating Committee to make no changes in the arbitration and grievance sections of the contract that were not mandated by the Caucus. The arbitration process has been in place since 1948 and the union believes its effectiveness is the reason there has been only one West Coast strike since then. But in direct response to the employers’ threats of a lockout and their establishment of a lock out fund, the delegates unanimously passed a motion setting up a strike fund and assessing each Longshore Division member $100 per month for the fund. The strike fund will be used to cover unusual costs related to contract negotiations or in the event of a strike or lockout. Any monies not used will be returned to the members.

Other business

The Caucus took time to deal with other matters affecting the Longshore Division. ILWU Legislative Director Lindsay McLaughlin flew out from Washington, D.C. to

Teamster Port Division Director George Cashman (at the podium) told the Caucus his union would be right behind the ILWU in its longshore contract negotiations, to the approval of (from left to right) Coast Committeeman Joe Wenzl, Coast Committeeman Ray Ortiz Jr., International Vice President Bob McEllrath and International President Jim Spinosa. Cashman was joined by two Teamster International Vice Presidents, Chuck Mack from the Bay Area and Jim Santangelo from Los Angeles.