LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union finished voting Monday on a contract covering West Coast ports, but results were not expected for another week.þþThe 10,500 longshoremen covered under the agreement have been voting since Jan. 6 through the mail or at local union halls, said union spokesman Steve Stallone.þþThe six-year contract would provide no-cost health insurance, a 60 percent pension increase and a pay raise that would allow the average longshoreman to earn $90,000 a year.þþBallots will be collected at the ILWU's headquarters in San Francisco, where they will be tallied Jan. 22. The contract only needs a simple majority to be approved and would go into effect immediately, union officials said.þþThe agreement with shipping companies ended a dispute that shut down West Coast ports for 10 days last year. Contract talks between the union and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shippers, didn't move forward until President Bush used the Taft-Hartley Act to reopen the ports on Oct. 9, ending a lockout.þþ
Source: NY Times
