LA
hearings slam feds, back workers
By Steve Stallone
Even
before State Sen. Richard Alarcon (D-Sylmar), chair of the Senate Labor and
Industrial Relations Committee, introduced the first witnesses, he and other
elected officials set the tone for the day. (Photo
of Legislators
listening to testimony: from left to right State Senator Richard Alarcon and
L.A. City Council woman Janice Hahn.)
“When Bush got involved in the negotiating process, we felt it was
absolutely necessary to hold this hearing,” Alarcon said. “It’s an
inappropriate use of federal power. It’s unconscionable to use concerns about
Sept. 11 to block the collective bargaining process. That’s the right of
American workers.”
State Rep. Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood), chair of the Assembly’s
Labor and Employment Committee, also opened by criticizing Bush interference in
the bargaining.
“This administration sees legal union activity as a threat,” he said.
The joint committee heard witnesses from labor, management and the
community, followed by an open forum. Labor witnesses included Los Angeles
County Federation of Labor Executive Secretary-Treasurer Miguel Contreras, ILWU
Legislative Action Committee co-chair Peter Peyton, ILWU longshore Local 13
President Ramon Ponce de Leon, Teamsters West Coast Port Organizer Gary Smith
and Kevin Kucera, president of International Assn. of Machinists Lodge 1484. (Photo
of The labor representatives testify: from left to right ILWU Local 13 President
Ramon Ponce De Leon, ILWU Coast Legislative Action Committee co-chair Peter
Peyton, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor Executive Secretary-Treasurer
Miguel Contreras and ILWU Local 13 alternate negotiator Dave Arian.)
Contreras denounced the administration’s intervention into the
negotiations as part of an anti-worker policy.
“From day one Bush had an agenda to crush unions,” he said. “No
president should be allowed to rob American workers of their best weapon—the
right to strike.”
Peyton testified that the ILWU, in the spirit of Harry Bridges’
historic Mechanization and Modernization Agreement that negotiated how
containerization would work on West Coast docks, had offered a technology
proposal that gave the employers everything they publicly said they needed out
of these contract talks. But the employers rejected it.
“It is becoming clear that the PMA’s cry for a solid proposal on
technology was a red herring issue,” Peyton said. “What they want is to
legislate a contract in Washington, D.C., and they are working this agenda with
the West Coast Waterfront Coalition and the Bush administration while doing very
little to negotiate in good faith in San Francisco.”
Ponce de Leon spoke of how the PMA has been using the Bush threats as
leverage to make cuts in ILWU members’ compensation.
“Our families need health and welfare benefits maintained,” he said.
“We have a proud history of taking care of all our members—current and
retired. The ports’ shipping volume is at an all-time high, breaking records
month after month. We’re not going to accept any proposals to reduce benefits
for people who have dedicated their lives to the ports, nor are we going to
accept a two-tiered system that divides our membership. We take care of our own
and we’re not going to allow the PMA to change that.”
Smith noted the Teamsters have withstood threats of Taft-Hartley
injunctions. During their 1997 UPS strike, then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich
called for then-President Clinton to intervene, claiming the strike would
cripple the national economy. Clinton refused. “This allowed UPS and the
Teamsters to work out their differences at the bargaining table,” Smith said.
“The Teamsters support the ILWU, and if they choose to strike, we will
not cross their picket lines,” Smith added. “If the Bush administration
chooses to lock ILWU members out, then our members will not move the containers
off the docks.”
The Machinists also closed ranks behind the ILWU. “Bush needs to
understand that on issues of federal intervention, the American labor movement
will remain unified,” Kucera said. “PATCO won’t happen again.”
Sen. Alarcon noted that Robin Lanier, the head of the West Coast
Waterfront Coalition, the retailer group that has been bashing the ILWU in the
press and lobbying against it in Washington, D.C., declined an invitation to
testify. But she sent a letter stating that the WCWC had no relation to the PMA.
The audience laughed in derision when Alarcon read it aloud.
PMA chief Joe Miniace also declined to appear. He sent Jack Suite,
PMA’s director of contract administration, instead. Suite claimed the
government’s concern with the contract talks was understandable.
“The damage to the economy of a strike is obvious,” he said.
Suite said the PMA had not encouraged the Bush administration to
intervene and he denied PMA ever had talks with the government about the threats
made to the union. But when State Rep. Koretz asked if PMA would directly ask
Bush to stay out of the negotiations, Suite would make no commitment.
Diane Middleton, a Los Angeles Harbor Area attorney, spoke of the work of
the Friends of Labor, an organization of community members who support the ILWU.
The Friends of Labor have been targeting WCWC retailers by leafleting consumers
at member companies, especially the local Home Depot store. (Photo
of Community representatives testifying: from left to right Jim Hussey, local
businessman, and Diane Middleton, Friends of Labor activist.)
“Our message is, ‘Stay out of the negotiations and drop out of the
WCWC,’” Middleton said.
The legislators present to hear the testimony also included U. S. Rep.
Jane Harman (D-Venice), Los Angeles City Councilmember Janice Hahn, State Rep.
Alan Lowenthal (D-San Pedro) and State Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park). Senator
Diane Feinstein (D-CA), State Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), State Sen.
Betty Karnette, State Rep. Marco Firebaugh (D-Cudahy), Los Angeles City
Councilmember Eric Garcetti and Long Beach Councilmember Tonia Reyes-Uranga all
sent representatives. Each pledged their support to the ILWU and their
opposition to federal intervention into the talks.
Rep. Harman presented a letter she and U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher
(R-Huntington Beach) sent to Bush opposing intervention.
“My message to the Bush administration is simple—stay out,” Harman
said.
State Rep. Lowenthal told the audience that he is sponsoring a resolution
in the state legislature opposing federal intervention in the port negotiations
and already has almost all Assembly Democrats signing on. Lowenthal also said he
wanted to be sure the collective bargaining process is not undermined.
“We view that as undermining democracy in this country,” he said.
“This hearing is not a flash in the pan. We will continue to watch and monitor
this situation.”