Dockworkers to resume talks here tomorrow

Associated Press

Negotiations on a new contract for about 480 Hawai'i dockworkers are scheduled to resume tomorrow after a break for the New Year's holiday.

Officials from the Hawai'i Employers Council, which represents shippers in the state, said the two sides met for several hours Monday and will resume talks tomorrow.

Members of Hawai'i's International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142 have been working without a contract since July. They agreed to work beyond the expiration date while talks progressed on a new deal for about 10,500 of their West Coast counterparts.

The Hawai'i dockworkers' contract typically is patterned after that of the West Coast workers. A new deal for those workers was reached in November and union leaders have recommended that members approve the contract in a ratification vote this month.

The deal boasts benefits including no-cost health insurance and a 60 percent increase in pensions, as well as about 12 percent worth of raises that will let the average longshore worker earn around $90,000 per year. Critics worried that language opening the docks to a new wave of computer technology did not protect union jobs.