Strike Averted as Port Clerks Settle Contract Dispute
It’s clear sailing ahead at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach after talks to negotiate a new three-year contract for the ports’ office clerks were successfully concluded July 26.
The clerks, who input transport documents and bookings for export cargo, will receive a 14 percent salary increase and a multi- employer pension trust that will provide health benefits and a secure retirement for clerical workers.
The negotiations between 17 shipping lines and terminal operators and the clerks, whose 930 members are part of the Office Clerical Unit of Local 63 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, started in May and dragged on for months. They continued even after their contract expired at midnight on June 30 although clerks authorized a strike if negotiations broke down, which would have been honored by other longshore workers.
A strike would have paralyzed the two ports, which handle 40 percent of the sea cargo that arrives in the United States. Everything from cars and electronics to toys and clothing land on these docks.
Under the last contract, clerks earned about $37.50 an hour, or $78,000 a year before overtime pay. Under the new contract, clerks will make 14 percent more after three years, said ILWU spokesperson Bill Orton.
Also, clerks were assured that none of their jobs would be outsourced to non-union areas or foreign countries in this high-technology world. The new contract must be ratified by the clerks before it goes into effect.
—Deborah Belgum
