ITF OFFICIAL CLAIMS PMAÆS FOCUS ON LABOR WELFARE, NOT TECHNOLOGY
A European union official observing contract negotiations between U.S. West Coast waterfront employees and union labor said negotiations have focused on welfare issues and not technology.
The comments were from Kees Marges, secretary of the dockers' section of the International Transport Workers' Federation, who is attending the negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association.
'Negotiations have mainly dealt with the employers' demands to reduce welfare provision for port workers,' Marges said.
Marges said that, while recent PMA statements 'gave the impression that the introduction of new technologies aimed at improving productivity and efficiency would be their priority ' cost reductions for port employers and shipping lines appear to be the PMA's main concern.'
Marges' comments came in a statement from the ITF, despite a media blackout on negotiations agreed upon by the PMA and the ILWU. The PMA said the ILWU also notified it on Wednesday that it was unilaterally lifting the media blackout.
The PMA, in a statement late Wednesday, said Marges' comments were 'inaccurate and misleading.'
'ILWU members who obtain services from PPO and HMO doctors would continue to be covered at 100 percent with no out-of-pocket costs and with no employee monthly premium,' the PMA said. 'This is in sharp contrast to the average U.S. worker's monthly employee contribution of $150 for family coverage.'
Suite said the PMA spend more than $20 per hour on overall benefits for each full-time employee, or an average of $42,000 per worker per year. Benefits are in addition to the ILWU members' average annual wages that average $106,833 for full-time longshore workers, the PMA added.
'PMA has no interest in reducing benefits, but has made proposals which are designed to provide benefits in a more efficient and cost effective manner and other proposals that increase the level of benefits,' said Jack Suite PMA spokesperson.
PMA said it is proposing the same or improved benefits in an environment of escalating costs. The cost of providing health, life and disability benefits has risen from $143 million in 1999 to $201 million today, and is expected to increase to $335 million by 2005, the association claimed.
Suite also claimed it has been the ILWU, not the PMA that has 'focused solely on the welfare section of employee benefits to the exclusion of all other issues that affect the operations of the West Coast waterfront, including technology, workplace practices, and wages.'
'The union insisted on negotiating one single issue to the exclusion of all others for six weeks, and with five days to go before the contract deadline, the issue remains unresolved,' he said.
Marges, the ITF official, also accused the PMA of 'trying to use the events of Sept. 11 and the need to improve port security as a way to force the ILWU to accept the unacceptable.' While Marges offered no specifics, he claimed that 'security is being used to shift the balance of power dramatically in favor of the shipping lines and shippers.'
'The ILWU ' is being placed under extreme political pressure of a type not previously experienced by the U.S. trade union movement,' Marges said.
' 'The facts clearly indicate that the PMA has been requesting technological advancements and workplace modernizations since 1999,' the association argued. 'In fact, as a result of 1999 negotiations, it was agreed that the parties would create a technology committee to address these issues. To PMA's disappointment, the committee met only a few times and did not make progress.
'The PMA has urged the ILWU to work with us on specific technology and modernization issues since the last contract talks in 1999, and we formally requested that negotiations begin on technology more than a year ago,' Suite said.