[021212.EN.SEA] LA-Long Beach Strike Sparks Diversions As New Arbitrator Backs Union

LOS ANGELES and Long Beach dockers continued to refuse to cross picket lines posted by fellow union members in the clerical local as ships weighed anchor and headed for Oakland and Mexico and Panama after a new arbitrator backed the strikers.

Earlier, an arbitrator backed management, declaring the strike "invalid". But a higher-level arbitrator has since ruled that dockers can "honour" picket lines without violating their contract, reported the Long Beach Press Telegram.

Nine ships were at anchor, while nine ships diverted to Oakland, Panama and Mexico, said Dick McKenna, executive director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California, which monitors vessel traffic.

International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) clerks, earning US$40 an hour, or $85,000 a year, are protesting a new booking software that could outsource work. That technology is already deployed at other ports.

The clerks have picketed twice earlier this year at different terminals, each time an arbitrator sided with management, saying the strikes were illegal.

The strike started Tuesday when talks broke up between the ILWU Local 63, the Office Clerical Unit and the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbour Employers Association.

"Both sides in this dispute understand the critical importance of keeping cargo moving through the San Pedro Bay complex," Port of Los Angeles executive director Geraldine Knatz said.

Said Port of Long Beach executive director Christopher Lytle: "A quick resolution is critical to maintaining our status as the country's premier gateway for transpacific trade."

The Harbour Trucking Association (HTA) in an angry letter to the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) said: "The gates at most of the terminals in the San Pedro Bay Port complex are closed - preventing 8,000 drivers from picking up containers.

Continued the HTA letter: "Warehousing and processing workers that stand downstream in the supply chain are being equally impacted. In short, this closure continues to have a devastating impact on all facets of the maritime industry," the truckers told the FMC."

The striking clerks have worked without a contract since 2010. The employers have offered "absolute job security," guaranteed full-time pay, wage increases and a one-time $3,000 payment to each permanent employee to cover missed pay hikes in 2010 and 2011. The proposal also calls for pension raises for the next two years and maintaining pension benefits for the following two years.

The union wants employers to hire more workers they don't want and restrain the use of technology.

Source : HKSG.