Dockworker Caucus to Debate Contract

Delegates representing West Coast dockworkers are gathering this week in San Francisco to debate a contract proposal hammered out last month between union leaders and major shippers and terminal operators.

The delegates’ caucus is crucial because its outcome will help sway how the 10,500 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union will vote in January. At least 60% of the ILWU membership must ratify the pact for it to pass.

A recommendation from the caucus requires a majority vote among the 80 delegates.

“It’s a democratic process,” said Steve Stallone, an ILWU spokesman. “I expect they will find every blemish there is to be found in the contract, but they will have to discuss and debate the value of the contract as a whole.”

The contract proposal calls for wages to rise by $3 an hour over six years, substantial increases in worker pensions, and fully paid family health insurance. In exchange, the Pacific Maritime Assn., which represents about 80 shipping lines and terminal operators, has the right to begin using advanced technology -- such as computer systems, optical scanners and remote cameras -- to speed cargo flow and eliminate hundreds of high-wage clerical jobs.

The unusual six-year labor pact was reached after months of acrimony and costly showdowns that rippled through the national economy. The contract would cover all U.S. commercial ports on the West Coast.

The length of the pact has left some uneasy. All previous contracts have been for three years.

“From what I’m hearing from other ports, when members have a chance to read what the tentative agreement is, they’re expressing extreme dismay over parts of it,” Jack Heyman, a caucus delegate who opposes the contract because of its duration, told Associated Press. “To have a contract of six years is like heading a ship through narrow straits without navigational charts.”

Starting today, the delegates will review the contract as negotiated by the union’s executive committee. Then they will spend the rest of the week pelting union leaders with questions. On Friday, delegates will recommend that the union’s rank-and-file membership either reject or approve the contract. Members are expected to cast their ballots next month.