From: David Hickmott [DHickmott@uli-atl.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2010 11:24 AM
To: David Hickmott
Cc: David Hickmott; David Hickmott
Subject: West Coast OCU and ILWU
Dear Valued Unique Customer,
The below two articles are very important. The OCU (Office Clerical Unit) contract expired on June 30, 2010. When this happened the last time, the ILWU staged a sympathy strike which slowed production at the nation’s busiest ports in Southern California.
One of the local wire services has confirmed (see below) that picketing has already started. We have also starting getting local reports from our truckers that they were not able to pick-up local freight for deliveries. This comes at a time just prior to the July 4th holiday weekend. If picketing continues and production slows further, this will severely impact not only local Southern California cargo but also intermodal cargo to inland destinations that discharge at these ports.
We will keep you updated as more information develops. Meanwhile, please be aware that any delay will surely cause a slowing of cargo and potential log-jam that will take weeks to resolve based on past experience.
Thank you for
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David Hickmott - Executive Vice President
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Picketers take on ports of LA, Long Beach
From wire
service reports
Posted: 07/01/2010
06:41:09 AM PDT
Updated: 07/01/2010
06:56:52 AM PDT
RELATED LINKS:
Picketers were in San Pedro this morning to show solidarity with
about 900 clerical workers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach who
failed to reach agreement with a coalition of international shipping companies
before a labor contract expired.
The pickets began arriving near John S. Gibson Boulevard and
Channel Street about 3 a.m., a duty officer at the Los Angeles police Harbor
Station said.
The Office Clerical Unit of the International Longshore and
Warehouse Union Local 63 approved a strike resolution Monday. Their contract
expired early today.
Other union workers at the ports may refuse to cross picket lines.
If so, work at one of the nation's busiest ports may grind to a halt.
Longshore workers have pledged to honor picket lines at the twin
ports, which together rank as the fifth-largest port complex in the world, KNX
1070 News Radio reported.
The clerical workers want language in the new agreement to prevent
employers from outsourcing jobs to foreign countries, according to John
Fageaux, president of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63.
A spokesman for harbor employers told ABC7 the harbor clerical
workers "are the highest paid clerical workers
in America."
"Their wage and benefit package is about $175,000 a
year," Stephen Berry of the Harbor Employers Association said in an
interview aired by ABC7 this morning. "They have paid time off of about 23
holidays a year, about 13 sick days a year, and about four weeks of vacation a
year."
Fageaux told ABC7 the clerical workers are concerned about job
security, not wages and benefits.
"We have always acknowledged that we have very good jobs, we
have great benefits, we're proud of that," Fageaux told ABC7. "This
isn't even an issue of money. We haven't given them a wage proposal because
that's not an important issue for us right now.
"What's important is the job security," Fageaux said.
As of 5 a.m., it appeared longshore workers were honoring the
pickets, KNX reported from Terminal Island. Containers not being unloaded could
mean millions of lost dollars a day, and delay goods from reaching stores
across the country, KNX reported.
The Long Beach and Los Angeles ports handle more than 40 percent
of the nation's port trade, Fox11 reported.
Employers say ILWU workers threaten job action
<http://www.americanshipper.com/NewWeb/images/ILWU_logo.jpg>
The Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbor Employers Association said late Tuesday the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit (OCU) has threatened a job action just days before a contract expiration date.
The employer group, which has 14 member companies said it began negotiations on April 19 with the union for a new contracts for 600 clerical workers who provide customer service and other support for cargo movement operations of the companies at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Each of the 14 terminal operating and steamship line companies has a separate contract with the union.
"The contracts expire on June 30, yet the OCU has been unwilling or unavailable to meet for more than 20 of the bargaining days over the last 10 weeks. As of today -- one day before the expiration of the contracts -- the OCU has not given the employers a full proposal, not even a wage proposal," the association said in a statement. The union could not be immediately reached for comment.
"OCU has now threatened a job action, which in the past has included work stoppages," the employer group said. It complained that because of the week economy "even the suggestion of disruption is irresponsible.
“Employers are committed to continued good faith negotiations to reach a fair resolution for both sides," it said.
Among the essential provisions proposed by the employers for a new OCU contract are:
• Flexibility in staffing so employers are not required to only call in temporary employees or hire new employees when there is a real business need.
• Limiting what it said was an abuse of health and welfare benefits, and changes to encourage workers to use their health plan's PPO network and discourage out-of-network visits it said is driving up the medical costs.
• Ability to allow continued booking of cargo handling other business online. "The OCU seeks to dismantle the ability to use technology that was negotiated between the parties in 2004 and return to less efficient and less customer friendly processes." The employers say they want to preserve this technology, which enables them to remain competitive and meet customer needs, while providing the OCU a meaningful role in the implementation of technology.
• Competitive equity. Instead of using the contract grievance procedure, the OCU has historically singled out two or three employers for unjustified "punishment" in the form of higher wages and more paid time off. The employers seek to end this practice by proposing that each company be allowed to adopt contract terms offered by the union to a competitor that provide lower wages, benefits or staffing costs.
• A six-year contract for "stability this would provide during these uncertain economic times." Past contracts for the clerical workers have been three years in length.
The employers say OCU members earn average annual wages of $96,900 -- with some making more than $250,000. They say their benefits package worth about an additional $66,000 per year.
Stephen Berry, lead negotiator for employers, said the union has not indicated explicitly what kind of job action it might take. But he said in the past, workers have picketed one or more employers at a time, and when that happens, longshoremen and clerks refuse to cross picket lines, shutting down individual terminals.