Strike Averted at Calif. Ports
A strike at the ports of Long Beach, Calif., and Los Angeles was averted on July 9, when clerical workers and shippers negotiated an agreement.
The agreement has yet to be ratified, but both sides are pleased with the terms of the contract, which allows shippers to implement new technology letting customers enter and track information about shipments and grants job security, a pay increase (from $33 to $37.50 per hour over the next three years) and improved retirement plans to clerical workers.
Steve Schwab, vice president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s Local 63 Office Clerical Unit, said the union is looking over the contract now and expects it to be ratified soon. He said the union is pleased with both the job security provisions and the implementation of new technology. “It basically put our people in the process and not outside the process,” he said.
The union had threatened to strike if an agreement was not reached.
But as the apparel industry gears up for its busy Holiday season, other freight disruptions remain on the horizon. Among them: a shortage of longshoremen at a time when container volume is up 10 percent to 14 percent, a possible truckers strike over rising diesel-fuel prices, and a shortage of equipment and workers at the railroads that service Southern California’s ports.
