Analysis of the Jobs, Wages and Revenues

The Oregonian

11/26/02

Dockworkers set to caucus on contract

DYLAN RIVERA

West Coast dockworkers are about to undertake a rite steeped in more than 60 years of tradition.

On Dec. 9, about 100 of them will descend on the Cathedral Hotel -- unionized, of course -- in downtown San Francisco to begin parsing line by line a proposed six-year labor contract.

Negotiations for the contract started in May, stalled, then led to an unprecedented management lockout of 29 West Coast docks for 12 days. A court injunction sought by President Bush -- claiming the stalemate had slowed billions of dollars in commerce and threatened the nation's economy and security -- reopened the docks.

Union and management negotiators early Sunday said they had worked out a historic deal that provides port managers with money-saving technological advances and gives union members wage and pension increases.

That compromise could unravel if the 10,500 union members reject the contract.

Rather than conduct an immediate membership vote, like some large unions, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union will convene a caucus Dec. 9-13.

The caucus will pore over every detail of the proposed contract before voting on a recommendation to the full union, whose members will vote a few weeks later.

"I expect them to go over it with a fine-tooth comb . . .," said Steve Stallone, spokesman for the ILWU in San Francisco. "You wouldn't have it any other way. You want people to know what they're getting into."

It is an unusual step for a union, but one that is steeped in democratic tradition for longshoremen -- whose union revels in its history of militancy and cantankerousness.

"In most unions, the members get to vote on a contract," said Robert Cherny, a San Francisco State University history professor who's writing a book about Harry Bridges, a founder of the union. "It's the role of the caucus that's fairly unusual here."

Things run much faster on the management side. The 72 member companies of the maritime association, which includes shipping lines and terminal operators, delegated authority to Chief Executive Office Joseph Miniace to approve an agreement, which he did with his signature Saturday night.

The association may have a mostly ceremonial vote of its membership after the union's referendum, but it wasn't certain Monday whether that would happen, said Jason Greenwald, spokesman for the association.

Caucus members are elected by the union local at each West Coast port to represent their interests at periodic meetings convened on a variety of issues large and small.

Each local has one vote for every 100 members, with the smallest locals having at least one vote. Local 8 in Portland has four delegates to the caucus -- Local President Bruce Holte and three others who are not local officers, Holte said. Large ports have significantly more votes, such as Los Angeles, which has about 45.

Making the longshore union more democratic was a central issue in the creation of the ILWU, which was formed when the West Coast branch of the International Longshoremen's Association split off in the 1930s.

Union leaders put such elements as the caucus in its contract from the beginning, Cherny said. It was a statement against the previous leadership, which was regarded as unresponsive and "not sufficiently militant," Cherny said.

"This wasn't just saying why you should vote for us instead of them," Cherny said of the split in the '30s. "It was saying 'We're going to run a highly democratic union here.' " Dylan Rivera: 503-221-8532, dylanrivera@news.oregonian.com.