Arduous process begins to ratify tentative 6-year pact for LA, Long Beach dockworkers

With a tentative agreement finally in hand, employers and the leadership of some 22,000 longshore workers began organizing ratification procedures on Thursday, June 15, that will finalize a 6-year pact for wages, benefits and other work issues at shipping ports along the West Coast.

Both sides must ratify the agreement, a process that can take as long as two or three months.

Details have not been formally released, but the Wall Street Journal, citing “people familiar with the negotiations,” reported on Thursday that West Coast dockworkers won a 32% pay increase through 2028 and will get a one-time “hero bonus” for working through the pandemic under the tentative contract agreement.

COVID-19 took the lives of several longshore workers and posed additional stress on the workforce which kept cargo moving and handled a months-long surge of imports that often kept workers on the job for six days a week.

The Wall Street Journal article also reported that dockworkers will receive a raise of $4.62 an hour in the first year of the contract — the equivalent of a 10% wage increase — plus an additional $2 an hour in each subsequent year. The wage increases are retroactive to July 1, 2022, when the last contract expired.

The union had been pushing to double current pay, according to the WSJ article.

The basic hourly pay, according to the Pacific Maritime Association’s 2022 annual report, was $46.23. With bonuses and overtime, the PMA said, the average full-time dockworker last year earned more than $200,000.

The process going forward is more complicated on the union side, as delegates will meet in a caucus initially for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union before the proposal is forwarded to the rank and file.

A contract caucus, Adams said in the statement, “convenes delegates from our 29 locals up and down the West Coast. These delegates will carefully review the tentative agreement and make a recommendation to the rank and file who will then vote on the tentative agreement.”

The union “will not be sharing details” until the process is concluded, Adams said.

The talks went on for 13 months in San Francisco, resulting in some cargo being diverted by companies to Gulf and East coast ports as worries mounted that there could be a walkout or a lockdown at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Long Beach.

It will be an “uphill climb all the way,” Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka, adding that he’s “under no illusion we’re going to get every container back.”

Seroka was at an industry conference in Tacoma Wednesday night when the tentative deal was announced

West Coast ports already, he said, have been losing cargo in market share, dropping from 80% in 2002 to 56% currently. A number of factors have contributed to the decline, he said, including high costs and a heavy-handed regulatory environment. The Port of L.A. and Long Beach have lost 20% of the import market in that time, he said.

But during the talks, more container business headed to other ports due to added concerns of how the protracted talks could impact work flow.

“We’ve got to double down,” Seroka said, adding that a signed contract is the just the first step in that effort.

U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Long Beach, gave much of the credit for the tentative pact to the Biden Administration and to Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su who flew to San Francisco on Monday and spent two days with the two sides in a “cooling off” period.

Garcia, who is co-chair of the Congressional Ports Opportunity, Renewal, Trade, and Security [P.O.R.T.S.] Caucus, said Thursday in a telephone interview that conversations had been ongoing with Su and that “both sides were focused” on reaching an agreement.

“There were a lot of conversations around the work ahead and the points that needed to be ironed out,” Garcia said. “Both sides were focused, they were just coming out of a pandemic supply chain crisis and it would have been absolutely the worst time to have any kind of real stoppage at the ports.”

Getting a six-year pact done, he said, “is huge.”

The tentative contract, Garcia added, also provides a sign of “strength and stability” for West Coast ports.

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, in a written statement, congratulated both sides for the tentative agreement.

“This announcement brings certain to the supply chain and fosters sustained growth within our port communities. It provides a sense of security for the approximately 22,000 ILWU jobs and brings peace of mind to businesses and workers in goods movement and port-related industries across Southern California.”

Especially glad to see the development was the National Retail Federation which has expressed concerns over the long-running talks and the impacts that has had on their membership. Earlier in the month, the NRF called on the Biden administration to intervene in the negotiations following reported work disruptions at terminals at the Ports of Oakland and Long Beach.

“On behalf of the retail industry, we ware relieved to see the parties have come to a tentative mutual agreement on a long-term contract for labor operations at West Coast ports, ending over a year of negotiations and uncertainty,” said President and CEO Matthew Shay in a written statement. “A new agreement provides stability to the supply chain and assurance to the millions for businesses and employees who rely on smooth and efficient operations from the West Coast ports.”

The ports, he added, are “a critical artery for retailers and other businesses into the U.S. market.” He urged the parties to “quickly ratify” the agreement.

Tom O’Brien, executive director of the Center for International Trade and Transportation at California State University, Long Beach, said the news has brought a sense of relief.

“This was certainly welcome news,” he said. “Obviously there’s a lot we still don’t know (about the details) but things are decidedly different than they were 48 hours ago just from the perspective of moving goods through the Southern California ports.”

The twin ports of LA have built-in advantages, O’Brien said, but also challenges.

“The lesson is just to never be complacent,” he said. “Increasingly, shippers always have options and they’re always going to look for the paths of least resistance.”

The Southern California ports, he added, “benefit the entire nation and unfortunately we never get credit for that to the extent we should.”

Garcia said he’s confident West Coast ports will see more federal infrastructure investment in the next few years.

“I think the labor secretary and President understand we have to invest in our West Coast ports,” he said, “and I think in the next couple years we’re going to see some great investment.”

Grunion Gazette Editor Kristy Hutchings contributed to this report.

Source: Orange County Register