ILWU MEMBERS BEGIN VOTING ON PMA CONTRACT

ILWU MEMBERS BEGIN VOTING ON PMA CONTRACT    Rank-and-file members of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union have started to vote on a contract negotiated by the ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association, a union spokesman said Friday.
   The outcome will be announced on Jan. 24. In mid-December, a group of delegates selected from the ILWU’s 10 voting units by a voted, by a 92.4 percent margin, to recommend that the full membership approve the contract.
   However, a union balloting rule leaves open a window of uncertainty. If any one of the 10 units does not approve the new contract by a margin of 50 percent plus one vote, then the contract will go into effect only if the full membership approves the pact by a margin of 60 percent, plus one vote.
   One possible hang-up could be the voting unit made up of the clerks’ locals, whose members, under the new contract, would see their clerks’ jobs phased out as the PMA brings in automation. No longshoremen presently registered will lose their jobs.