NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | August 18, 2017 | PAGE 13
Labor peace on West Coast docks
will run through 2022
ILWU members have approved a
3-year contract extension.
West Coast longshore workers
have voted to extend — by three
years — their collective bargain-
ing agreement with the Pacific
Maritime Association (PMA).
In an official statement, the
International Longshore and
Warehouse Union (ILWU) said
the vote came after a year-long
internal debate.
The previous agreement was-
n’t set to expire until July 1,
2019. Now it will run through
July 1, 2022. It was PMA that
proposed the extension.
The agreement covers about
20,000 longshore workers at 29
ports in California, Oregon and
Washington, including about
8,000 part-time “casual” work-
ers. Only the full-time perma-
nent members were allowed to
vote on the agreement, and they
ratified it by a 67 percent mar-
gin, the ILWU said Aug. 4.
The agreement contains no
concessions by the union. It
raises wages, increases em-
ployer pension contributions,
and maintains existing health
benefits. Neither the union nor
THE UNION IS MY SWORD AND
SHIELD: West Coast longshore
workers make $42 an hour not be-
cause of employer generosity but
because over the years they have
fought tenaciously through their
union to maintain their way of life.
employer group released spe-
cific details. Longshore workers
currently make about $42 an
hour, while casuals make just
over $30 an hour.
By proposing to extend the
contract, PMA chose to avoid the
conflict that erupted the last time.
After contract negotiations
bogged down in 2014, PMA ac-
cused ILWU members of inten-
tionally slowing down their work
loading and unloading cargo; the
union denied those charges.
For the union, extending the
contract reduces political risk.
During the last negotiations, big
shippers and retailers loudly
clamored for federal interven-
tion. Under U.S. labor law the
president can seek a court order
forcing workers back to work if
a strike or lock-out is deemed to
be a threat to national health or
safety. President Trump hasn’t
made any statements taking sides
between PMA and ILWU, but
some ILWU members may not
have wanted to take chances on
a strike with Trump as president.
Altogether, ILWU represents
about 50,000 longshore work-
ers, marine clerks, and ware-
house workers on the West
Coast of the United States and
Canada, Hawaii, and Panama,
plus workers at Powell’s Books
in Portland. East Coast and Gulf
Coast longshore workers are
represented by a separate union,
the International Longshore As-
sociation.