WASHINGTON — West Coast dock employers and the dockworkers union reached a tentative six- year contract agreement that could bring stability to the nation’s busiest ports while easing restrictions that have blocked implementation of information technology on the docks, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The tentative pact, announced late Saturday night, came as the two parties settled issues related to pension benefits and arbitration procedures. Previously, they had reached tentative agreements on implementing technology and on maintaining health benefits. The entire agreement must be ratified by members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, or ILWU, which represents about 10,500 West Coast dockworkers.
In reaching the tentative agreement, the two parties appeared to be winding down a tumultuous period marked by a 10-day shutdown of West Coast docks in early October. The shutdown, which was halted after the White House intervened, resulted in huge cargo backups, delayed shipments and higher costs for thousands of retailers and manufacturers. More than $300 billion in goods are shipped annually through West Coast ports.
Coming as it did during the tail end of the Christmas shipping season, the dock shutdown caused many exporters in Asia to scramble to get their goods onto expensive air freight. Other Asian manufacturers lost orders from the U.S. because earlier shipments were held up and didn’t make it into stores. It took weeks for shipping lines to restore their routes and schedules. Several ship companies temporarily stopped sending vessels to the West Coast because of a shortage of containers and other equipment.
The tentative agreement gives management more freedom to introduce technology, particularly scanners and other electronic gear, to improve the flow of cargo through West Coast marine terminals. Currently, the ILWU requires that its members become involved in tasks such as checking trucks into the terminals and providing instructions to equipment operators, often rekeying information already available in computers.
Employers expect the technology, which will be phased in during the next few years, could eliminate 200 to 600 high-paying ILWU jobs. Full-time longshore workers, who load and unload cargo, make about $106,000 a year, on average, including overtime.
“This tentative agreement provides additional tools to bring our ports into the 21st century,” said Joseph Miniace, chief executive officer of the Pacific Maritime Association, or PMA, which represents West Coast terminal operators and ocean ship lines.
But others say the agreement doesn’t go far enough to bring West Coast ports in line with more advanced and efficient ports in Europe and Asia, which have lately turned to robotics to move containers. The information technology that is part of the tentative agreement “will not substantially change the playing field,” said James Winchester, an analyst at Lazard Freres. “We’re talking scanners and bar codes and fairly simple stuff. But it will be a step in the right direction.”
The ILWU says the tentative agreement maintains the union’s traditional stance of implementing new technology in return for a share of the “increased wealth” it brings. According to people close to the negotiations, an agreement was reached after the PMA agreed to boost pension benefits. In turn, the ILWU agreed to arbitration procedures sought by the employers that, in part, could allow for faster implementation of the technology.
The tentative agreement also opens rail and yard planning jobs to the union, which settles a dispute about jurisdiction of those jobs. In addition, employers have promised to protect the jobs of currently registered dockworkers whose positions would be eliminated by technology.
The negotiations were guided by Peter Hurtgen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, who tried to get the two parties to avoid another dock shutdown and further damage to the economy. Mr. Hurtgen noted that the six-year term of the tentative contract agreement doubles the length of previous contracts and “provides stability for the industry.”
In a statement, President George W. Bush said, “this agreement is good for workers, good for employers, and it’s good for America’s economy.”
Top labor officials also lent a hand, lest another dock shutdown tarnish the reputation of labor and lead to more federal intervention. In recent weeks, the AFL-CIO had dispatched Richard Trumka, its secretary-treasurer, to sit in on the talks.