PMA, ILWU EXCHANGE FIRE OVER FAILED NEGOTIATIONS
While Bush set the Taft-Hartley Act's wheels in motion Monday by creating a board of inquiry to address the U.S. West Coast ports' lockout, the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore & Warehouse Union traded shots about failed negotiations.
The PMA claimed the ILWU walked out of talks Sunday night.
“The ILWU rejected a comprehensive offer that included a $1 billion increase in pension (funds),' said Jason Greenwald, a spokesman for the PMA. 'The union also rejected the PMA’s offer for a 90-day contract extension to be put in place while details on the comprehensive offer were finalized.”
Both sides agree technology has been the key stumbling block in negotiations. The employers want to upgrade clerks from using pencil and paper to computers to improve the processing of information and to bring the ports up to speed with shippers, transport and logistics providers. The PMA has claimed it will guarantee that no existing union jobs will be lost in the process.
ILWU President James Spinosa said the PMA's proposal Sunday did not ensure union jobs, and 'offers very little and takes away a lot.'
'Rather than deal with the union's main concerns — that the jobs left over after the implementation of technology and the new jobs created by the technology be ILWU jobs — the PMA proposal will allow the companies to outsource these jobs,' Spinosa said.
Spinosa said the new offer provided no wage increases over the first three years of a five-year deal, except for some crane drivers. The proposal also provided pension cuts for current retirees and widows, and 'guts the arbitration process.'
The ILWU head also said the union had agreed to sign a seven-day extension of the contract that expired June 30 — which the PMA had publicly stated would be the one action required from the ILWU before the port employers ended the lockout.
'Their strategy has been all along to use the lockout to push this situation to crisis and get the government to bail them out with the Taft-Hartley injunction,' Spinosa said.
Joe Miniace, president and chief executive officer of the PMA, admitted the ILWU agreed to the seven-day extension, 'but they said technology was off the table.'
'I didn't want Taft-Hartley, but we don't have a choice now,' Miniace said.
The PMA head voiced concern Monday that, once the ports reopen, the ILWU will engage in work slowdowns. In a statement, Spinosa said he feared employers would force union workers into 'an unsafe speedup' to deal with the backlog of cargo.
If an injunction was granted under Taft-Hartley, Miniace said the PMA has “no steps in mind” to see that no union slowdowns occurred.
“We have equipment to monitor the work being done to see if any slowdowns take place,” he said.
“The first procedure, as I understand it, is to go to arbitration if slowdowns occur. Then it all goes to a federal judge, who doesn’t want to be a personnel manager.”
Miniace noted that, at the end of presumed 80-day cooling off period, if an injunction is issued under Taft-Hartley, the PMA could find itself back at square one with the ILWU.
“Yes, that could happen. The PMA would want negotiations would continue during the cooling-off period. Frankly, I don’t know what would happen right now at the end of that time. I don’t think a Taft-Hartley injunction would favor either side,” Miniace said.
Asked if he had been in touch with President Bush, Miniace said, “I have a subpoena in front of me to testify (Monday) afternoon before the board of inquiry. I’ve had no personal word from Bush. Maybe he’ll call me after Iraq.”