ILWU Members Ratify Contract by Huge Margin
January 22, 2003

The rank and file of the ILWU Longshore Division voted by nearly 90 percent to ratify the tentative contract union negotiators secured Nov. 23. International President James Spinosa said the members made an informed and wise decision.

The ILWU’s Ten Guiding Principles say that when given the truth and the opportunity to determine their own course of action, the rank and file in 99 cases out of 100 will take the right path, Spinosa said.

In this case each member received a complete copy of the contract. They had union meetings to question the negotiators about it and plenty of time to debate it among themselves. They understood the terms of the contract, the times it was negotiated in and the victory it represents.

The final tally was 7,405 in favor of the contract and 888 against, or 89.3 percent to 10.7 percent. Voter turnout was 85 percent. The agreement passed in every local on the Coast. The 89.3 percent vote is the largest approval for any longshore contract in the history of the ILWU.

Going into bargaining the union set three priorities: maintain its 100 percent employer paid health care benefits, increase pension rates and win jurisdiction over operating the new technology.

The ILWU batted three for three on its main concerns, Spinosa said.

The contract guarantees the medical benefits for the next six years in a time when health care costs are rising dramatically and most other unions are being hit with cutbacks and increasing co-pays.

The pension increases are the largest in the history of the American labor movement. And the contract gives the jurisdiction over the port computer technology the issue that ignited the employer lockout to the union.

The contract says that the new work operating the new technology will not be outsourced to non-union workers, Spinosa said. That work will be done by ILWU marine clerks.

Still, the union expects Pacific Maritime Association member companies to challenge that and to seek regular arbitrations to minimize clerk work as much as possible.

PMA has been forcing clerk jurisdiction issues to arbitration ever since computers were first introduced to the docks more than 20 years ago and a number of PMA companies opposed the current jurisdiction deal. The new arbitration process on technology will likely be tested early and often.

But even Peter Hurtgen, the federal mediator who helped work out the contract language, said its intent is to give the jobs to union members. At the press conference held Nov. 24, the day after the contract was tentatively agreed to, Hurtgen said, It contains the framework for new technology in all the ports.

That is going to make the ports more efficient. It’s going to increase productivity. It will cause some reduction in jobs, but the agreement also provides that the union will retain its traditional jurisdiction in the jobs as changed. And that of course was a very difficult but important piece that took a long time to negotiate.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, who sat in on the final six weeks of negotiations, praised the agreement.

In a time when more working families than ever are struggling with rising health care costs and insecure retirements, the ILWU has won a historic contract which sets a much-needed benchmark in health care, pensions and living standards, Trumka said.

Through the tireless leadership of President James Spinosa and all the ILWU leaders, and through the courageous solidarity of the membership, the ILWU has won a victory not only for dockworkers, but for all of America’s working families.

Spinosa said the contract is also a victory for the collective bargaining process.

Throughout the almost seven months of negotiations the workers’ right to collective bargaining were being challenged, he said. The government threatened to bring in troops to seize the ports if we had exercised our legal right to strike. The employers locked us out rather than bargain. And Bush invoked Taft-Hartley to try to force a settlement on us.

But through it all we held fast and kept talking until we finally came out with a negotiated agreement. This shows the process can work if given a chance.

The new six-year contract is retroactive to Nov. 23 and runs through June 30, 2008. It covers all 10,500 ILWU longshore workers on the U.S. West Coast. The vote was held Jan. 6-13 at the locals and the ballots were sent to the International office in San Francisco to be tallied today by the Coast Balloting Committee consisting of Lawrence Thibeaux (Local 10), Danny Caruso (Local 54) and Richard Kahoalii (18).

cwa39521