Shipping Lines, Longshoremen Reach Accord

Ending weeks of tense labor negotiations, the longshoremen and steamship lines operating the West Coast’s booming seaports announced Wednesday that they had agreed to a new three-year contract that provides union dockworkers with a raise and wider authority over waterfront trucking.

Announcement of the new pact between the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union and the steamship lines’ bargaining agent, the Pacific Maritime Assn., closes out several weeks of uncertainty on the docks.

After the old contract expired July 1, steamship lines reported work slowdowns at terminals in Seattle, Oakland and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Under the new accord, the 8,000 union longshoremen and clerks on the West Coast would receive a raise of $2 in the first year, bringing their base hourly wage to $24.68. An additional $1 pay hike would become effective in the second year.

For the union’s skilled workers, who are paid the base wage plus a percentage depending on their job, the contract also included a raise. For longshore crane operators, who made 6.75% more than the base under the expired contract, the new one increases their differential to 20%. Union officials said that in some instances, union members were making more than they were supposed to under the old agreement, and the new one would resolve inconsistent wages.

And what do the steamship lines get out of all this?

“Stability,” said Jay Winter, executive secretary of the Steamship Assn. of Southern California.

“Three years of uninterrupted operations at our West Coast ports,” said Terry Lane, vice president of the Pacific Maritime Assn. The pact must be OKd by a caucus of rank-and-file union members and by the steamship lines, but both sides predict smooth sailing.

“Everyone’s happy,” union spokeswoman Kathy Wilkes said.

The union also used the contract talks to stake a claim to trucking jobs that will be created when two near-dock rail yards open to serve the Los Angeles port. New provisions in the contract call for union longshoremen to haul cargo containers between freight yards and yet-to-be-built near-dock rail facilities on Terminal Island.

The accord also permits the union and steamship lines to develop pilot programs in which International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union members would haul containers over public roads between the twin ports. Some steamship officials speculated that those programs could pave the way for the union to take control of trucking now done by the independent, self-employed drivers who have tried to organize for nearly two years.