Shipping clerks back to work after dropping picket lines at Los Angeles, Long Beach ports

Clerks at LA, Long Beach ports drop picket lines

LOS ANGELES — Clerical workers who struck the nation’s busiest port complex for 11 days returned to work Monday after arbitrators’ rulings said their union was negotiating in bad faith with shipping companies.

The workers twice attempted to shut down loading and unloading operations at five terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach by starting picket lines and getting fellow members of the International Longshore Warehouse Union to stay away from the docks.

Both times, an arbitrator said the union local representing about 900 clerical workers was negotiating in bad faith with the 14 shipping companies and ruled their pickets were “not bona fide.”

The rulings “made it impossible” for the more than 10,000 longshoremen at the ports to respect the picket lines, ILWU spokesman Craig Merrilees said. Managers handled the clerks’ workload during the strike, so there was no significant disruption to shipping.

Merrilees said the union was appealing the arbitrators’ decisions.

Contract talks resumed Monday afternoon following a weekend break.

Stephen Berry, the lead negotiator for the shippers, said he was wary about allowing the clerks to return to work without a settlement.

“We are welcoming those employees back, however there has not been a contract settlement,” Berry said.

The strike began July 1 when a 3-year contract expired for the clerical workers, who handle paperwork for the ports’ cargo shipments.

The shippers want to use new computer programs giving customers online access to shipping schedules, a move that the union has said would endanger jobs. The union is seeking contract provisions against outsourcing.

The shippers claim they have already offered protections against layoffs and is accusing the union of unreasonably demanding guarantees that would force the shippers to hire temporary and permanent workers regardless of whether there is work for them to do.