Vol. 79/No. 8      March 9, 2015

The West Coast dockworkers fought boss smears seeking to paint the unionists as responsible for port congestion, lockouts from night work and for six days over the President’s Day weekend, and pressure for a settlement from the Barack Obama administration.

Thousands of longshore workers showed up at the Local 13 dispatch hall in nearby Wilmington Feb. 21 for job assignments, as full-scale port operations resumed.

“The tentative agreement is subject to the membership ratification process, which will take some time,” ILWU spokesman Craig Merrilees told the Militant in a letter. A meeting of 90 elected delegates from 29 ports will review the tentative pact, he said. If the delegates decide to recommend it to the membership, the text will be provided to all 20,000 members, followed by membership meetings to discuss and vote on it.

The union succeeded in getting the truth out, explaining how the lockouts, the bosses’ failure to train crane operators and the creation of a chronic shortage of chassis to transport containers were responsible for the growing disruption of trade. Rail bosses exacerbated the situation, prioritizing more profitable oil transport, leading to a shortage of trains to carry grain and cargo.

The Pacific Maritime Association made concessions to the longshore workers in a Feb. 4 contract proposal, including a 14 percent pay increase over five years, maintaining a health care plan paid entirely by the employers and returning jurisdiction to the union over maintenance and repair of chassis. There was still disagreement, however, over how workplace disputes are arbitrated.

Obama sent Labor Secretary Tom Perez to join the talks Feb. 17 and press for a deal.

The following day, some port bosses posted a two-page letter from Pacific Maritime Association President James McKenna attempting an end run around the union and appealing directly to dockworkers. “The critical remaining issue is the union demand to change the longstanding procedure for retaining arbitrators and/or to unilaterally dismiss both current California arbitrators,” the bosses’ spokesman said. “This demand would undermine the independence of the arbitrators and the fairness of the arbitration process.”

“The ILWU Negotiating Committee responded to concerns from members about inequities and injustices in the current area arbitration system,” Merrilees told the Militant, “and were able to reach agreement on a new system that will increase fairness and respect for union members when disputes arise.”

“Solidarity has prevailed!” Local 13 President Bobby Olvera and Vice President Mondo Porras said in a letter to members Feb. 20.

The lockouts and other efforts to attack the dockworkers have also adversely affected some 10,000 truck drivers who haul containers at the port. They have been fighting to be represented by the Teamsters union.

“Because the vast majority of port truck drivers are misclassified as independent contractors, every day that the ports are shut down, the drivers have gone further into the financial hole because they are paid by the load,” said a statement released by the Teamsters Port Division Feb. 22. “And — even when the port is shut down — the boss has continued to deduct the cost of the truck, insurance, and even parking of the company truck at their own yard from their paychecks.”

“This is wage theft and it is illegal,” the statement said. “The longshoremen have fought for more than 100 years for a seat at the economic table; it is now the truckers’ turn.”
 
 
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