Dockworker talks to start early

By Edvard Pettersson
Bloomberg News

LOS ANGELES — Dockworkers on the West Coast have agreed to start talks on a new three-year contract a month ahead of schedule to allow time to find ways to implement new technology in the ports without sacrificing jobs.

Representatives of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union could sit down with the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents ocean carriers and terminal operators on the West Coast, as early as April 1, said George Kavakas, a spokesman for ILWU Local 94 in Los Angeles. The union represents about 10,000 workers at the ports.

The carriers want to automate some tasks at ports in Oregon, California and Washington that are now done by longshore workers, to improve efficiency at these ports, which have had an influx of Asian imports in recent years.

While the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the biggest container ports in the country, they are far less efficient than counterparts in Asia such as those in Hong Kong and Shanghai, PMA chief executive Joe Miniace said in an interview last year. Congestion at the ports has resulted in supply-chain disruptions and unnecessary costs for importers, said Miniace.

The current contract expires July 1 and negotiations normally wouldn't start until the first or second week of May. The PMA wanted early talks because, when the current contract was negotiated, the union said technology issues were too complex to tackle in the time available, said Jack Suite, a contract administrator with the carrier's association.

Whether contract talks will start next month depends on the ILWU getting a number of documents from the PMA, said Kavakas. These documents, which include information about PMA members and studies on technology and labor use, will be send to the union by the end of next week, Suite said.

Hawai'i workers' negotiations traditionally follow talks on the West Coast as the ILWU seeks parity in wages and benefits with their West Coast counterparts.