Union turf battle stalls steel delivery at Oakland
Dozens of police officers, some in riot gear, were called to the Port of Oakland over the weekend to maintain order during an ongoing labor turf battle between union dockers, several other local unions and the California Department of Transportation.
The police presence was sparked by protests that began at the port on Friday by members of the International Longhsore and Warehouse Union. The ILWU members claim that they were denied the right to unload a ship which arrived at the port's Pier 7 on Friday carrying bulk steel to be used by Caltrans in a $1.4 billion replacement of the Bay Bridge's eastern span.
The union, one of the strongest in the nation, holds a virtual monopoly on dock work performed at 29 West Coast commercial ports including Oakland.
However, instead of hiring members of the ILWU's Local 10, Caltrans allocated the work of unloading the vessel Zhen Hua to two other unions, including the Iron Workers and the Operating Engineers. Members of the IWOE typically handle unloading barges of construction material coming from nearby U.S. ports.
The ship sat idle over the weekend as police monitored ILWU members picket lines set up at the port. The union is contesting who has responsibility for unloading the Zhen Hua and the construction material.
'This is our jurisdiction,' Melvin Mackay, ILWU Local 10 president told the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday. 'Once (a ship) is tied up to the dock, it belongs to the longshoremen.'
On Friday, Caltrans told a local television station that Pier 7 is not under ILWU jurisdiction because it is being leased by the agency through 2013 for the bridge project and during the lease is not a commercial-use facility. California Highway Patrol and local police were called to prevent the ILWU picketers from actually entering the Pier 7 property, which under the lease with the port, is considered state property and a construction site. The actual dock where the vessel is berthed sits nearly a mile from the gate of the terminal.
On Sunday, Caltrans officials said they were not responsible for hiring the dock labor for the vessel and blamed the dispute on the agency's main contractor for the bridge project ' a joint venture between American Bridge and the Fluor Co.
The contractor disagreed, telling the Chronicle on Sunday that the ultimate decision on which union to use for the dock work was the responsibility of Caltrans.
'I'm hoping that Caltrans steps up and shows some leadership,' American Bridge's project director, Michael Flowers told the paper. 'In our view, we have appropriately assigned the work. It's construction work and not commercial cargo. We're working with Caltrans right now to try to resolve this.'
A meeting was set for Monday morning between the ILWU, Caltrans officials and the bridge contractor.
Officials from the City of Oakland reported that they had informally spoken to the parties in the dispute on Sunday to make sure that the dispute did not grow beyond the Zhen Hu issue. The ILWU, according to the city, agreed to halt the pickets on Sunday as long as work did not continue on the ship until the dispute was resolved. ' Keith Higginbotham