ILWU HOLDS SOLIDARITY RALLY, PMA COUNTERS ?MYTHS?

ILWU HOLDS SOLIDARITY RALLY, PMA COUNTERS ôMYTHSö    The International Longshore & Warehouse Union, along with representatives form the California Labor Federation and the National AFL-CIO, held a solidarity rally Wednesday outside the headquarters of the Pacific Maritime Association in San Francisco.
   The ILWU represent West Coast waterfront labor in negotiations with the PMA, which represents, terminal operators, stevedores, ocean carriers and other employers in negotiating a new contract. The two sides have been extending the existing pact on a day-to-day basis since July 1. While both sides have vowed to meet to reach a deal, statements and the rally in the past week imply that compromise is not immediately imminent.
   The ILWU said it has granted the PMA’s “must-have” demand, “free flow of information at its terminals and the subsequent reduced staffing, in return for the jobs left,” according to a union statement.
   The ILWU said the PMA “refused to guarantee those positions or any of its outsourced jobs.”
   In a statement Wednesday, the PMA proposed to debunk 'myths' it attributed to the ILWU.
   In the statement, the PMA denied that its proposal would cut back jobs, health benefits, pensions, and outsource union clerk jobs to other workers.
   The PMA maintains that it 'would protect all active registered jobs, including a pay guarantee of 40 hours of work for each marine clerk who has no work to perform.'
The association also disputed what it says were ILWU claims that “technology proposal would reduce jobs and save employers $100 million annually.” The PMA said the ILWU’s proposal “provides for manning quotas that actually increase the number of clerks on the job.”
   The PMA asserted that the ILWU’s proposed “dispute resolution process” in regard to technology “would essentially create a filibuster mechanism to keep technology from being implemented.”
   The ILWU had no comment on the PMA’s alleged “myths” as of Wednesday afternoon.