For Immediate Release:   September 25, 2002 

Contact:  Steve Stallone 415-775-0533 x114

PMA Employers Divided Over Technology

With both sides recessing from two weeks of subcommittee meetings about technology issues, the division among PMA employers over what they want out of a contract continues to plague progress in contract negotiations.

After four and a half months of bargaining efforts and a month of discussions specifically on a technology framework, PMA still cannot reach consensus on how to implement technological change.  The past two weeks in technology subcommittee have produced no substantive agreement due to the unwillingness of the PMA to bargain.

The ILWU has made serious attempts to reach a compromise on technology.  In July the union provided a comprehensive technology proposal which would meet the PMA’s demand for free flow of information, even at the expense of hundreds of ILWU jobs.   Since then the proposal has been refined and developed through a series of subcommittee meetings.

Throughout the process, the ILWU has requested jurisdiction over the jobs which remain and those which are created by the new technology.  Some of the employers who have already implemented elements of the new technologies want to agree with this element of a contract package. 

Early in negotiations PMA chief Joe Miniace had pledged to work with the union to reach a compromise on technology and protect jobs.  “The ILWU members, our registered workforce of longshoremen and clerks will be guaranteed work opportunity under this contract, and, more importantly, the opportunity to move into new positions, with methods of work and a secure future,” Miniace stated in the first bargaining session on May 13, 2002.

However some among the coalition of 89 employers no longer find it in their self interest to protect loyal employees and Miniace has now reneged on that promise.  This division among PMA members remains a key stumbling block in negotiations.

The ILWU Negotiating Committee will meet tomorrow.   The union team is ready to go back into negotiations with the PMA in the near future with the goal of agreeing on a contract as soon as possible.

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