(The following Associated Press article was published on January 14 in the online issue of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.)
LOS ANGELES — Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union completed voting yesterday on a contract covering West Coast ports, but results weren’t expected for another week.
The 10,500 Longshoremen covered under the agreement have been voting since Jan. 6 through the mail or at local union halls, union spokesman Steve Stallone said. The six-year contract would provide no-cost health insurance, a 60-percent pension increase and a pay raise that would allow the average Longshoreman to earn $90,000 a year.
Ballots will be collected at the ILWU’s headquarters in San Francisco, where they will be tallied Jan. 22. The contract only needs a simple majority to be approved and would go into effect immediately, union officials said.
The agreement with shipping companies ended a dispute that shut down West Coast ports for 10 days last year. Contract talks between the union and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shippers, didn’t move forward until President Bush intervened to end the lockout.