Longshore Worker Talks Progressing
Contract talks between the Pacific Maritime Association and longshore workers have made some progress after the first month of negotiations.
Since talks began in San Francisco on March 17, both sides have exchanged their contract demands and are asking questions about them, said Craig Merrilees, a spokesperson for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents 25,000 longshore workers at 29 West Coast ports whose contract expires July 1.
“The reports continue to reinforce what we said in March: that there is optimism with an early start in the talks that we can reach an agreement without the disruption we saw in 2002 and before the current contract expires,” PMA spokesperson Steve Getzug said. The PMA in San Francisco, which represents shipping lines, terminal operators and stevedores, is responsible for negotiating and administering labor agreements with waterfront workers.
Details of the contract demands were not made public.
During the last contract negotiations in 2002, the whole process turned into acrimony and bitterness. Shipping lines locked out longshore workers for 10 days during prime shipping season in late September and early October, leading to a huge backlog of cargo containers that took weeks to clear. Many apparel manufacturers missed deadlines to deliver their clothing to stores, resulting in multi-million-dollar losses for many companies.
Negotiations started early this year with the hope that any disruption at the ports could be avoided.
Meanwhile, the PMA’s annual report notes that the average annual salary for a longshore worker is $125,461. Clerks earn on average $145,731 a year and foremen are paid $200,052.
The ILWU maintains those figures are inflated. “You could call it a distortion, and that is being generous,” Merrilees said, noting a longshore worker’s base pay is $30.68 an hour. “The overwhelming bulk of the work force is closer to the $30.68-an-hour figure.”
The PMA’s Getzug said his group’s salary figures are for a fully registered, full-time longshore worker. —Deborah Belgum
