ILWU to PMA—port security first

Bargaining Statement August 27, 2002 James Spinosa, ILWU International President

James Spinosa, ILWU International President

For more than a year our union has sought to address critical port safety and security issues confronting us in the current round of negotiations. Immediately after the tragedies of Sept. 11 we redoubled our efforts by asking the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) to work with us to develop new security measures for the West Coast docks. Since then there has not been a day that passed without member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) working to increase our port security.

Unfortunately it is not clear that the representatives of the PMA have the same commitment to increasing our national security. Dominated by foreign-based multi-national companies more concerned with the free flow of goods than with the security of what is shipped, the PMA has consistently thwarted our efforts to build on the experience and training of dock workers and create a comprehensive port security program that includes all personnel. 

The dramatic changes in the ownership and operation of shipping companies over the last decade mean that we have to pay increased attention to issues of port security. Obviously the Congress is concerned about port security because two comprehensive bills are still being debated. The Department of Transportation has stepped up its discussion of the Maritime Security Program which pays shipping companies to be ready to help in a time of crisis. And every day we hear about the efforts of the U.S. Customs Service to increase the inspection in foreign ports of the goods that are shipped to our country.

We have consistently raised these security issues with West Coast terminal operators. Our first formal request to create new security standards was submitted to PMA on Sept. 12—they did not respond. Again in the spring we raised the issue of deteriorating port security standards before we went to the bargaining table. We will raise these issues again at the table until we can create an effective plan to secure our ports.

We want to work cooperatively with the shipping companies like Maersk Sealand to enhance port security and bring the appropriate tools to the ports to increase safety and security on the job. Despite the ongoing efforts of ILWU members, there are no systems in place to provide adequate security inspections, leaving us vulnerable. Longshore workers systematically inspecting container seals are the last line of defense. It is only through the careful inspection of container seals and the verification that each container has appropriate documentation that we can hope to begin to address critical issues of port security. A decade from now when the new container terminal technologies are fully in place it might be possible to inspect the containers electronically. And we will work with the shipping companies to implement that technology. But we have to make sure that we have the trained union members needed to bridge that technological gap.

Experienced dock workers can see when there is something awry as cargo is unloaded. In an era when shippers like Maersk engage in a high volume of business with countries such as Iraq and Libya, which our government considers “state sponsors of international terrorism,” it is impossible to rely on overseas inspections. The fact is that most of the ships that come to our ports are foreign owned and we cannot control where they have been or who has handled the cargo. To protect our members, our families and our communities we need to work toward real port security while we develop a clear container inspection program.

August 12 rallies say it loud Bush butt out!

Bush administration honchos seemed to think they could bully the ILWU and get away with it. Their ham-handed meddling in the Longshore Division talks with the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) blew up in their faces August 12. Thousands of ILWU members and allies hit the streets in Long Beach, San Diego, Oakland, Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle that day, appalled at the assault on workers’ civil rights and outraged at the prospect of National Guard troops working cargo.

Elected officials from Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) to mayors and many council members in the port cities backed the union’s demand that the government get its nose out of negotiations and let the collective bargaining process work.

“This crowd in the White House amuses me every day, talking about the free enterprise system and how we shouldn’t see government involvement,” Daschle told participants at the Portland rally. “But now they don’t want collective bargaining and they want to come in and deny you that right. I say this is wrong, wrong, wrong, and you’re right to fight, fight, fight.”

At the end of the day, the demonstrations made their point so clearly that even mainstream media got it. Headlines and newscasts up and down the coast carried the message: Bush, butt out. 

“The rallies up and down the coast made it clear that port cities want the federal government out of our contract negotiations,” ILWU International President James Spinosa said. —Marcy Rein excerpted from ILWU Dispatcher