SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Nearly 90 percent of dockworkers have approved a multibillion dollar deal that formally ended the West Coast port labor dispute that shuttered West Coast ports and hamstrung Pacific Rim trade last fall.þþDockworkers and shipping companies announced separately Wednesday they had overwhelmingly approved a new six-year contract.þþSlightly more than 7,400 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union voted for the deal, with nearly 900 opposed. It was the largest margin of victory for any longshoremen's contract, union officials said. Voter turnout was 85 percent.þþ``They understood the terms of the contract, the times it was negotiated in and the victory it represents,'' union President Jim Spinosa said.þþThe contract takes effect Feb. 1 and should bring labor peace to 29 major ports that will modernize under the pact.þþThe Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping lines and terminal operators, also announced Wednesday that its member companies had ``overwhelmingly'' ratified the deal.þþ``Today we begin a new era at West Coast ports,'' association President Joseph Miniace said. ``A modern waterfront will create new jobs, strengthen our economy and enable us to better maintain port security.''þþThe deal boasts handsome benefits, including no-cost health insurance and a 60 percent increase in pensions. By 2008, a union member will receive an annual pension of $1,800 multiplied by the number of years worked -- a 30-year veteran, for example, would get $54,000 per year in retirement.þþ``In a time when more working families than ever are struggling with rising health care costs and insecure retirements, the ILWU has won a historic contract which sets a much-needed benchmark in health care, pensions and living standards,'' said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka.þþSalaries would increase 12 percent, giving the average longshoreman around $90,000 in annual pay. In exchange, union members would accept a new wave of computer technology that would speed the flow of goods through congested ports.þþCompanies have been seeking for new cargo-handling systems and ``many companies are planning to bring in technology, certainly over the next several months,'' said association spokesman Steve Sugerman.þþAs technology arrives, so too will new rounds of dispute between the two sides.þþCompanies will try to keep as many of the new technology-dependent jobs under their control, while the union will argue that the jobs are theirs according to contract language.þþ``I'm sure the arbitration process is going to get a workout,'' union spokesman Steve Stallone said.þþIncreased efficiency would hit the work force, though not too hard. The contract would guarantee that all current union members keep their jobs, but as they retire, about 400 positions could be lost.þþIn practice, relations between longshoremen and their bosses have been smooth since union leaders overwhelmingly approved the multibillion dollar deal in December, according to spokesmen from both sides.þþGoods have been flowing across West Coast docks far swifter than during the holiday season, when it took federal intervention to reopen ports darkened by the labor battle between longshoremen and shipping companies.þþStill, the relatively smooth flow of goods across the docks is a stark contrast to autumn, when President Bush asked a federal judge to reopen ports that slammed shut when the association locked out workers for 10 days.þþThe economic shockwaves from the dispute spilled across the nation -- the ports handle more than $300 billion in trade each year. As huge cargo ships sat at anchor, part-starved auto assembly lines shut down, perishable farm cargo rotted and irate truckers idled in miles-long lines.þþOnly after Bush used the Taft-Hartley Act to reopen the ports on Oct. 9 did contract talks progress with the subtle cajoling of a federal mediator. Negotiators struck a deal Nov. 23, which a delegation of union leaders approved Dec. 12.þþNot all union members supported the deal.þþJerry Cressa, a crane driver at the Port of Portland, said the deal will divide the most skilled workers -- who get a bonus under the deal -- and the least skilled, who do not.þþ``I do not understand what has happened to the ILWU when it seems to be adopting the employers' own corporate mentality: the elite deserve more than the majority,'' Cressa said.þþ
Source: NY Times
