Legal Opinion on Union Sought

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday asked for a legal opinion on its latitude in supporting an effort by a longshoremen’s union to retain 350 jobs in the South Bay.

The dispute centers on plans by Southern Pacific Transportation Co., the railroad company, to end its contract Feb. 17 with a company that uses workers from the International Longshoremen and Warehousemen’s Union, Local 13, to load shipping containers onto trucks and trains. Southern Pacific’s plan would allow it to replace the 350 ILWU workers with employees represented by the railroad industry’s largest union, the Transportation Communications Union.

The threatened loss of ILWU jobs has prompted leaders of the longshoremen’s union to push local lawmakers to intervene in the dispute. The ILWU has warned that it will stage a one-day walkout at all West Coast ports the day before the new union begins working for the railroad.

At Wednesday’s council meeting, Harbor-area Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores called on the council to express its “deep concern” about the labor dispute and its possible effect on the ports.

But Flores’ motion was tabled until Friday, when the city attorney’s office will report on the implications of any action the council takes in intervening in the dispute. The report by the city attorney was requested by several council members, who questioned how far the city should go in taking sides in the labor discord.