(The following Associated Press article was published in the January 7 issue of the San Jose Mercury News.)
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union began voting Monday on a new contract.
Representatives of Pacific ports from San Diego to Seattle endorsed the deal overwhelmingly last month when it was proposed to end the bitter labor dispute that closed West Coast ports for 10 days last fall.
Union leaders have called the multibillion-dollar six-year contract a “landmark” agreement with the Pacific Maritime Association. If ratified by the union’s rank-and-file members, it would provide no-cost health insurance, a 60 percent increase in pensions and raises that would let the average longshore worker earn about $90,000 a year.
It also would allow shipping lines to introduce new cargo-handling technology to the docks, which would cost about 400 union jobs in the short term.
The union’s 10,500 members have until next week to cast their votes. The contract needs only a simple majority to pass.
Ballots are scheduled to be counted Jan. 22. If ratified, the contract will go into effect immediately, union spokesman Steve Stallone said.
The 29 major Pacific ports handle more than $300 billion in trade each year.
Their economic importance became clear when the association locked out dockworkers for 10 days in response to what it believed was a coordinated union slowdown, causing goods to pile up on docks and auto assembly lines to close down because of the lack of parts.
Contract talks between the union and the association didn’t move forward until President Bush used the Taft-Hartley Act to reopen the ports Oct. 9. Negotiators struck a tentative deal Nov. 23.