West Coast dockers? contract talks report progress, issues remain

West Coast dockersÆ contract talks report progress, issues remain The union representing 26,000 West Coast dockworkers and the organization representing shipping industry employers are reporting significant progress in negotiations aiming to deliver a new three-year labor contract by the end of the month.
   The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association both report that a tentative agreement has been reached on health care benefits for the dockworkers. While West Coast longshore workers already receive some of the most generous blue-collar health care benefits in the nation, the ILWU reportedly entered the talks hoping to reaffirm and strengthen the current benefits while preemptively preventing any possible future cost-saving cuts by the PMA.
   Despite the tentative agreement on health benefits, and a joint ILWU-PMA statement issued Tuesday describing the continuing pace and tone of the talks as 'productive,' both sides said that important issues remain, 'with work left to be done.'
   The two sides have previously stated that negotiators are hopeful of reaching a full agreement before the current six-year waterfront labor contract, which covers ILWU workers at 29 West Coast ports, expires on July 1. The current talks are reportedly seeking to establish a three-year contract.
   'Both sides are committed to resolving outstanding issues at the table and to keep West Coast ports running smoothly,' said the joint statement.
   Unlike the previous contract's negotiations in 2002, where each day's discussions found their way into local and national media outlets, ILWU and PMA officials have refused to publicly discuss the current talks in any forum other than short jointly released statements.
   'There was an agreement early on that what happens at the table stays at the table until an agreement is reached,” PMA spokesman Steve Getzug said last month.
   Negotiations on the ILWU contract typically start three months before the contract expiration date, however, leaders on both sides agreed last year to begin the current cycle of talks a month early in March.
   Both sides have said they hope to avoid a repeat of the 2002 contract talks, where a contentious lockout by employers following a breakdown in negotiations shuttered West Coast port operations for 10 days. The final toll on the national economy from the lockout has been estimated at $10 billion to $20 billion. When both sides returned to the table after federal intervention, the resulting eight-months of talks resulted in the current six-year contract that was not ratified by both parties until late 2003. ' Keith Higginbotham