Negotiations between shippers, clerks at ports of LA, Long Beach uncertain

SoCal port clerks’ contract talks uncertain

LOS ANGELES — Negotiations between 900 clerical workers and shipping companies at the nation’s busiest port complex were unlikely to resume Wednesday before their contract expires just after midnight.

Negotiators were set to resume talks six hours before the contract expires at 12:01 a.m. Thursday at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, but by late evening, the shippers said the union refused to meet at three suggested locations, including any nearby hotel.

The union local “refused all our offers to come and sit down and talk,” said Stephen Berry, lead negotiator for the Harbor Employers Association, which represents 14 shippers and terminal operators at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach

The head of the union countered that negotiators for the shippers turned down his offer to meet at the union’s office or a nearby hotel.

John Fageaux Jr., president of Local 63 of the Office Clerical Unit of the International Longshore Warehouse Union, said there was “a high likelihood” of a job action. “The last thing we want to do is strike but if we have to we’re prepared to take economic action.”

Fageaux said fellow ILWU members, including longshoremen, have historically honored picket lines if the approximately 900 clerks strike.

That could shut down loading and unloading operations at the twin ports, which account for 40 percent of all the cargo container traffic coming into the United States and are starting to recover from the recession.

The clerks voted Tuesday night to authorize a strike when talks stalled. They process bookings for the export of cargo and other transport documents for shippers and terminal operators.

The shippers want to use new computer programs allowing customers access to booking information. The workers are worried that may lead to their jobs being outsourced.

“We’re not opposed to technology that will create more efficient processes, but we do not agree if it allows others to do our work,” Fageaux said.

The shippers said they have proposed keeping every existing job and offered a 10 percent increase in monthly pension payments in the next contract.

Three years ago, workers threatened a walkout, but talks continued after the deadline. Both sides ultimately reached a deal in which the workers got a raise and an agreement that allowed monitoring of whether any of their job duties were being outsourced.