Strike at L.A., Long Beach Harbors Closes 7 Terminals and Idles 7 Ships

Seven major cargo terminals were shut down and at least seven ships idled Tuesday after dockworkers in Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors refused to cross picket lines set up by office workers striking nine steamship and stevedoring companies.

The work stoppage came at 8:30 a.m., when 240 office workers belonging to the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union Local 63 voted to walk off their jobs after negotiations with employers broke down over job security issues. The two sides had talked nonstop for 22 hours before the walkout.

Negotiations are expected to resume today, a Port of Los Angeles spokesman said.

One of the nine companies involved, Seapac Services, agreed Tuesday evening to abide by any contract that is eventually signed by the union and employers. Union workers resumed work for Seapac immediately.

Officials at both ports said there was no way to assess the immediate impact of the work stoppage on harbor operations. Most of the two ports’ 67 cargo terminals, as well as passenger ship operations, are not affected, officials said. None of the cruise ship lines operating out of Los Angeles Harbor is affected.

However, the cargo terminals being picketed are among the largest at both ports, officials said. At Los Angeles Harbor, four container cargo terminals were shut down; in Long Beach, three container facilities were closed.

“Right now, the impact hasn’t been that great,” said James McJunkin, Long Beach Harbor director. “But if it is prolonged, shippers will probably start seeking other ports for the cargo.”

Terry Lane, regional manager of the Pacific Maritime Assn., an employers’ group, said that seven ships, most carrying containerized cargo, were idled by the walkout. Nineteen other ships were able to load or unload their cargo at terminals unaffected by the strike, he said.

Except for brief work stoppages, there has not been a major strike by dockworkers at either of the ports since 1971, Lane said.

The office workers’ contract with the employers expired at midnight Monday but was extended eight hours while talks continued. Shortly after the extension expired, the office workers walked out and dockworkers belonging to Local 63 and two other longshoremen’s locals agreed to honor their picket lines. Together, the locals represent about 4,000 employees.

The office workers perform jobs ranging from operating switchboards to bookkeeping. Many are involved in routing cargo as it is loaded and unloaded from ships onto trucks. The workers typically earn about $14 an hour.

Lower Wages

Although employers are seeking lower wages for new employees, union officials said wages are not the primary issue in the strike. Rather, they said, the main issue is job security.

In recent months, union officials and workers say, about 60 office workers have lost their jobs, some as a result of employers transferring work away from the waterfront and out of the union’s jurisdiction. Other jobs have been filled by supervisory personnel, the union asserts.

“The companies just want to get rid of the union,” said Glenn Hankins, 32, an office worker from Lake Elsinore who showed up at the union hall in Wilmington on Monday night. “They simply don’t want anybody to have any job protection.”

Jeff Powell, the union bargaining agent for the office workers, said talks bogged down after the employers refused to specify in the new contract that supervisory workers would not be used in new jobs that could be performed by union workers. In the past, he said, the union has lost arbitration cases centering on the issue.

Howard Hay, an attorney representing employers, denied that the companies have transferred jobs out of the area or given them to supervisory personnel.

“What has caused the recent layoffs has been a loss of customers or contracts by the companies,” Hay said. “It hasn’t been anything the employers are doing.”

Hay said that while employers have not agreed to guarantee that union workers will not be laid off if business conditions warrant it, they have offered to ensure that no union worker is laid off because a non-union worker gets the job.

“We have tried to strike a very fair compromise between the employees’ need for job protection and the employers’ need to attract new business and keep the business they have,” Hay said. “The bottom line for us is that we are willing to provide significant job protection to all the current Local 63 employees, but we cannot do it in a way that prevents the companies from operating in an efficient manner.”

Powell said the companies being picketed by the union include American President Lines, Marine Terminals Corp., Indies Terminal, Overseas Shipping, Kern Steamship, Zim Container Service, California United Terminals and International Transportation Service.