For Immediate Release: August 27, 2002
ILWU Returns to Table with Proposals
Representatives of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) returned to the bargaining table today with the West Coast association of shipping and stevedore companies with significant proposals around employee benefits and port security.
“We want to work cooperatively with the shipping companies like Maersk Sealand to enhance port security and bring the appropriate tools to the docks to increase safety and security on the job,” said James Spinosa, president and chief negotiator for the ILWU. “We will raise these issues again at the table until we can create an effective plan to secure our ports.”
Last week negotiations were recessed so that Spinosa could be with his family at the funeral of his father. During the recess from negotiations subcommittees on health care benefits and on port security and safety met to continue progress on the three-month long bargaining effort while some of the leaders on both sides had other commitments to fulfill.
In addition to the proposal on enhancing port security through closer inspection of containers, members of the ILWU Negotiating Committee will present the progress they have made in developing a cost reduction system to protect the health benefits of active and retired union members.
Because the ports are an extremely dangerous work environment the ILWU team has been working to find ways to contain escalating insurance costs while making sure that health coverage protects dock workers. The proposals will focus on more efficient case management, increased self-management of claims, and more rigorous audits to bring down payments to third parties and put money into health care.
“Addressing health, safety and security issues are a vital concern to all 16,000 West Coast longshore workers and their families, as well as our 29 port communities,” Spinosa said. “We look forward to making progress on these issues.”
Attachment: Bargaining Statement August 27, 2002 James Spinosa
Bargaining Statement August 27, 2002
James Spinosa, President ILWU
For more than a year our union has sought to address critical port safety and security issues confronting us in the current round of negotiations. Immediately after the tragedies of Sept. 11 we redoubled our efforts by asking the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) to work with us to develop new security measures for the West Coast docks. Since then there has not been a day that passed without members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) working to increase our port security.
Unfortunately it is not clear that the representatives of the PMA have the same commitment for increasing our national security. Dominated by foreign-based multi-national companies more concerned with the free flow of goods than with the security of what is shipped, the PMA has consistently thwarted our efforts to build on the experience and training of dock workers and create a comprehensive port security program that includes all personnel.
The dramatic changes in the ownership and operation of shipping companies over the last decade mean that we have to pay increased attention to issues of port security. Obviously the Congress is concerned about port security because two comprehensive bills are still being debated. The Department of Transportation has stepped up its discussion of the Maritime Security Program which pays shipping companies to be ready to help in a time of crisis. And the everyday we hear about the efforts of the U.S. Customs Service to increase the inspection in foreign ports of the goods that are shipped to our country.
We have consistently raised these security issues with West Coast terminal operators. Our first formal request to create new security standards was submitted to PMA on Sept. 12—they did not respond. Again in the spring we raised the issue of deteriorating port security standards before we went to the bargaining table. We will raise these issues again at the table until we can create an effective plan to secure our ports.
We want to work cooperatively with the shipping companies like Maersk Sealand to enhance port security and bring the appropriate tools to the ports to increase safety and security on the job. Despite the ongoing efforts of ILWU members, there are no systems in place to provide adequate security inspections, leaving us vulnerable.
Longshore workers systematically inspecting container seals are the last line of defense. It is only through the careful inspection of container seals and the verification that each container has appropriate documentation that we can hope to begin to address critical issues of port security. A decade from now when the new container terminal technologies are fully in place it might be possible to inspect the containers electronically. And we will work with the shipping companies to implement that technology. But we have to make sure that we have the trained union members needed to bridge that technological gap.
Experienced dock workers can see when there is something awry as cargo is unloaded. In an era when shippers like Maersk engage in a high volume of business with countries such as Iraq and Libya, which our government considers “state sponsors of international terrorism,” it is impossible to rely on overseas inspections. The fact is that most of the ships that come to our ports are foreign owned and we cannot control where they have been or who has handled the cargo. To protect our members, our families and our communities we need to work toward real port security while we develop a clear container inspection program.
For more information call ILWU Communications Director Steve Stallone at 415-775-0533 (office) or 510-635-9821 (cell) or visit www.ilwu.org.
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