West Coast Dockworkers OK New Contract

A majority of longshore workers on the West Coast, including thousands in Los Angeles and Long Beach, voted to approve a new three-year contract that increases pay, health insurance and pension benefits, union officials said. Ballots from more than 7,000 dock workers from California to Washington were tallied at the San Francisco headquarters of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union, with 83% favoring the contract. The agreement, reached July 15, was the product of two months of often-tense negotiations with the Pacific Maritime Assn., which represents West Coast shipping companies. To press their case, workers staged slowdowns and threatened to hold their first strike since 1971. “This is the biggest landslide vote for a longshore contract in memory,” ILWU official Jim Spinosa said. “It shows the membership knew what they wanted and got it.” ILWU Local 13, which represents more than 3,000 workers at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, voted 2,229 to 644 in favor of the new pact. None of the union’s 26 locals voted against the contract.