ILWU opposes California container fee
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union said Thursday it opposes a statewide $30-per-TEU container fee awaiting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature, according to the Daily Breeze newspaper.
The dockworkers' union, which represents nearly 25,000 workers at West Coast ports, does not support the bill's addition of a fee to containers moving through the ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles and Oakland, ILWU spokesman Craig Merrilees told the paper.
The bill, approved earlier this year by the legislature, is authored by State Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, and seeks to raise about $500 million a year for transportation and air quality projects within the state, according to the senator's Web site.
According to staff in Lowenthal's office, the governor has until next week to sign the bill.