After failing to reach a contract after more than two years
of negotiations with a management group representing international carriers and
terminal operators, members of an International Longshore and Warehouse Union clerical
division have gone on strike.
ILWU Local 63, a clerical unit with about 800 members, began
the labor action at noon Nov. 27 at Pier 400 in the Port of Los Angeles and
later spread to the other seven port terminals over the course of the following
24 hours.
As of Nov. 29, three of the six container terminals at the
adjoining Port of Long Beach – Long Beach Container Terminal at Pier F,
International Transportation Service at Pier G and Total Terminals
International at Pier T – were also not operational due to union picketing.
The union members have been working without a contract since
their three-year pact with management expired June 30, 2010. Negotiations had
been ongoing until this week. Union leadership contends that management wants
to outsource work to other countries.
"It’s not about wages and benefits, it’s about
outsourcing and the future of good jobs in America and our Harbor communities,"
Local 63 President John Fageaux said. "We just reached the point where somebody
had to stand up and draw the line against outsourcing, because these companies
will eventually take all the good jobs."
The ILWU specifically opposes technology that would allow
customers to directly access booking information, saying it could lead to the
outsourcing of jobs. However, the employers’ group, which is comprised of 14
shippers and terminal operators in and around the port complex, says
implementation of new technology is needed to improve efficiency.
Fageaux said that the Los Angeles Harbor community has lost
over 50 permanent positions over the past years and that maritime companies
have announced plans to eliminate another 76 in the future.
"The jobs here come with excellent wages and benefits –
but they’ll eventually disappear if companies keep outsourcing them to India
and Taiwan," Trinie Thompson, a Port of Los Angeles logistics clerk said.
Although Local 63 only has 800 members, the strike is being
honored by its much larger sister, Local 13, which has about 7,000 registered
members and represents almost 20,000 part- and full-time longshore workers who
discharge cargo at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
