Los Angeles / Long Beach Harbor Employers Association

« Back | LOS ANGELES/LONG BEACH WATERFRONT NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE

Date: Thu, Aug 26th, 2010
 

No Meetings with Employers

as Workers Approach 60 Days Without a Contract 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Steve Getzug

For the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Employers Association

(213) 219-8990 (mobile)

 

Nation's Highest-paid Clerical Workers Remain Unwilling to Reach a Fair Labor Agreement


LOS ANGELES (Aug. 26, 2010) - The negotiating teams representing employers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach released the following statement regarding the status of negotiations with ILWU Local 63A Office Clerical Unit (OCU):

 

The clerical workers represented by the OCU have been working without a contract since July 1, and OCU officials have not met with the employers in over a month. 

 

Harbor employers have offered multiple, meaningful concessions on core OCU issues - including a guaranteed work week, absolute protection against layoffs due to implementation of  technology, increased protection against layoffs for any other reason, wage and pension increase, and maintenance of all in-network PPO health plan benefits despite rising costs

 

Conversely, when the two sides last met, the OCU refused to make any movement on any of the employers' key issues, continuing to insist that employers hire temporary and permanent workers even when there is no work to perform and that the technology framework both sides agreed upon in 2004 and again in 2007 be dismantled.  The OCU also continued to press for 32 percent pay and benefits increases on top of the average annual compensation package of $165,000 that makes them the highest paid clerical workers in America.

 

Harbor employers cannot accept the OCU's regressive technology and "featherbedding" demands, which would promote and reward absenteeism and inefficiency at a time when the fragile economic recovery and increasing competition among U.S. ports requires a more dedicated effort to meet customer needs than ever before.

 

The inaction by the OCU raises uncertainty about the situation that puts at risk the jobs and livelihood of tens of thousands of people involved in the movement of cargo on and off the docks at a time when they can least afford it.  The Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex directly and indirectly supports more than 3.3 million jobs, and is the landing point for more than 40 percent of the nation's imports.  The port complex is a critical economic engine for the Southern California region and the rest of the United States.  It is time for the OCU to act responsibly by returning to the bargaining table and agreeing to a fair contract.

 

About the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Employers Association

The Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Employers Association is a not-for-profit association representing shipping agencies and terminal operators in Southern California. The Association assists its members in matters relating to the employment of OCU employees, including the administration of the labor contracts of member companies.

 

# # #


Link: http://www.harboremployers.com/web/news/press/details/?LOS-ANGELES-LONG-BEACH-WATERFRONT-NEGOTIATIONS-UPDATE-26