ILWU OFFICE CLERKS, EMPLOYERS TO BEGIN 2016 TALKS THREE MONTHS EARLY

Hoping to avoid tumultuous negotiation like in 2010 and with shippers’ patience already low, International Longshore and Warehouse Union office clerical workers in Los Angeles-Long Beach are expected to begin negotiations with employers in April — less than three months before the current contract expires.

Shippers are in no mood to tolerate more work stoppages next year involving ILWU office clerical workers, said attorney Stephen Berry, who represents the 15 marine terminals and shipping lines. After enduring months of West Coast port congestion and work slowdowns associated with the coastwide ILWU dockworker negotiations with the Pacific Maritime Association, shippers are keeping some of the cargo they diverted to East and Gulf Coast ports.

The Office Clerical Unit of ILWU Local 63 represents about 600 office workers who process shipping documents at 15 marine terminals and shipping lines in Los Angeles-Long Beach. Negotiators for the employers and the OCU must agree upon 15 separate contracts, an exercise which in its own right is a Herculean task, and cries out for early negotiations.

In fact, Berry said he recently discussed with OCU President John Fageaux the possibility of launching early negotiations this year, but Fageaux indicated he prefers to stick with the normal bargaining timeline of beginning negotiations in the spring, allowing less than three months to reach an agreement before the current contract expires on June 30.

“Employers are keenly aware of the diversion of cargo that took place to the East Coast, and the impact of the diversion on job opportunities at West Coast ports,” Berry said in reference to the crippling port congestion earlier this year during the ILWU dockworker negotiations. “We want early resolution of these 15 contracts. We don’t want prolonged bargaining,” he said. Fageaux was not immediately available for comment.

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