06 Apr ILWU Delegates Recommend Tentative Agreement
ILWU Coast Longshore Caucus delegates voted Friday to recommend approval of the tentative agreement reached on Feb. 20, 2015, between the union and employers represented by the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA).
The tentative agreement was approved on Feb. 20 by the ILWU’s 16-member elected Negotiating Committee and 8-member Safety Sub-Committee. The proposed 5-year contract covers 20,000 dockworkers at 29 west coast ports.
As reported, the tentative agreement was reached after more than nine months of negotiations. Both sides agreed at the time that operations at all 29 ports would return to normal by Feb. 21 pending ratification, although clearing the backlog of containers clogging port yards was expected to take some time. The PMA had halted vessel loading and unloading twice in February to avoid paying overtime to ILWU worker it said were intentionally slowing port operations to gain leverage in the negotiations, leading to widespread disruptions of receipts this year.
All 90 delegates to the Coast Longshore Caucus spent this week reviewing the proposed agreement lineby-line, before voting by 7 percent to recommend the proposal on Friday.
“This agreement required ten months of negotiations – the longest in recent history,” said ILWU International President Bob McEllrath, “but we secured a tentative agreement to maintain good jobs for dockworkers, families and communities from San Diego to Bellingham. Longshore men and women on the docks will now have the final and most important say in the process.”
Copies of the agreement will be mailed to longshore union members, who will then have a chance to discuss the proposal at local union meetings. A secret ballot membership ratification vote will be the final step in the process. A final tally will be conducted on May 22.