Dock talks scheduled to resume today
By Justin Pritchard
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — Both sides in the West Coast ports dispute resume bargaining this morning wondering whether progress in their contract dispute is the new rule — or the exception that proves labor peace remains beyond the horizon.
Bloomberg News Service
After a week's break, longshore workers and shipping companies were scheduled to renew their first party-to-party talks with a federal mediator since Nov. 5.
After a week's break, West Coast dock workers and shipping companies will resume talks today in hopes of ending their labor dispute.
They've spent the break mulling pension proposals, the next hot topic in a clash that led to last month's 10-day shutdown of 29 major Pacific ports.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union says retirement benefits must be sweetened in exchange for the introduction of computerized cargo tracking systems that will make dockside work more efficient but also cost jobs.
The union calculates that the technology will save shipping lines and port terminal operators "at least $200 million a year," said spokesman Steve Stallone.
"When the workers step up as we have to advance the industry at the cost of some of our jobs, we deserve some compensation for that and we deserve to have some retirement security," Stallone said.
The shipping industry press has reported that association members are divided over what has been federal mediator Peter Hurtgen's greatest feat to date — a tentative agreement to expand the cargo tracking process.
In announcing the hiatus last week, Hurtgen said the Pacific Maritime Association that represents shipping companies wanted time "to evaluate anticipated technology-based operational savings and pension funding costs into future years."
The tentative technology agreement could be imperiled if Hurtgen can't get both sides closer on pensions.
And the difference is wide.
In October, the association offered a 25 percent pension increase over five years. The union countered with a proposal that would bring the maximum annual retirement benefit to about $50,000 for its most experienced members.
That may sound like retirement in style, but by general standards it is a little low given union members' wages.
The most experienced foremen on the docks average $167,000 a year. Even with Social Security, $50,000 doesn't approach the pension industry formula that a retiree needs to receive 70 percent of wages to maintain his standard of living.
A regular longshoreman averages an $80,000 annual salary for full-time work.
"It sounds like a really great pension for the rank and file, but it's probably on the low side if you're a foreman," said Ron Gebhardtsbauer, senior pension fellow at the American Academy of Actuaries.
