| Longshore Workers Seek New Contract |
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The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story Joseph Bonney | Sep 30, 2009 Talks go into the night Tuesday, resume Wednesday morning Negotiators for the International Longshoremen’s Association and ILA employers met in small groups Tuesday holding discussions into the night. Talks resumed Wednesday morning in pursuit of a new contract aimed at assuring shippers that there won’t be a strike next year by 18,500 dockworkers in Atlantic and Gulf ports. Details were unavailable on the substance of the negotiations. Any agreement would have to be voted on by wage-scale delegates and then approved in a referendum by union members before taking effect.ILA President Richard Hughes called the union’s 200-member wage scale committee to Orlando this week for meetings with United States Management Alliance, which represents employers. Hughes has hoped to win agreement on a new contract in advance of the Sept. 30, 2010, expiration of the current six-year agreement, in order to prevent shippers from diverting cargo to Canada, Mexico or the West Coast. ILA wage scale delegates rejected a proposal earlier this month for a two-year contract extension that would have raised starting pay, narrowed the gap between ILA wage tiers by raising newer workers’ pay, and removed a cap on carrier contributions to royalty funds. Union opponents of the deal complained that it failed to restrict the use of computer-based technology at terminals and would have delayed by one year a pay raise scheduled to take effect Thursday, the start of the current contract’s final year. USMX Chairman James Capo said management would not accept restrictions on the technology needed to improve port productivity. |