Port Workers Protest Possible U.S. Intervention

With the federal government threatening to get involved in contract talks between port workers and shipping firms, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union on Monday decided it was time to march.

Carrying signs that said “Fight Terrorism, Not American Workers,” about 2,000 union members strode through downtown Long Beach to protest federal plans for bringing in federal troops to run the nation’s busiest harbor complex should the two sides fail to reach an agreement.

The contract, which covers more than 10,500 union members at 29 West Coast ports handling 7% of the U.S. gross domestic product, expired July 1.

Since then, the union and the Pacific Maritime Assn., which represents shipping lines and stevedoring companies, have been unable to reach a settlement.

Negotiations resume today in San Francisco, after a three-week break called by the union after its members rejected an offer from the shipping lines.

The Bush administration’s threat to intervene has become a major point of contention. The White House convened a working group to monitor port talks in June, with representatives from the departments of Labor, Commerce, Transportation and Homeland Security.

A Labor Department official who has been in touch with the union and shipping lines confirmed last week that he had discussed four options that might come into play if the union called a strike, including forcing union members to work through an 80-day cooling-off period or using Navy personnel to operate port equipment.

Speaking on condition that he not be identified, the official insisted the administration has been neutral but is worried that a port strike could cripple the economy.

The union responded Monday by sponsoring rallies in five port communities from Portland, Ore., to San Diego, which drew half a dozen mayors, including Willie Brown of San Francisco and Jerry Brown of Oakland, as well as Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), who spoke in Portland.

The march in Long Beach culminated in a demonstration at Lincoln Park attended by supporters, who included Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn.

“We cannot allow the heavy hand of the Bush administration to come in here and in any way change the outcome of the negotiations,” Hahn told the appreciative crowd.

“There’s only one reason they would want to get involved at all,” Hahn said, “and that’s to break the union. We will not let that happen.”

Union officials and rank-and-file members agreed, saying that U.S. intervention would give shippers an unfair advantage.

“Why should the PMA even want to settle with us if federal troops are standing behind them?” said Roxanne Lawrence, an ILWU marine clerk for 15 years. “It’s not fair and it’s not right.”

Added Lawrence: “Dispatching the National Guard to the ports in the name of national security would be an absolute mess.”

From a stage erected in the shadow of PMA’s Long Beach headquarters, Dominic Maretti, a Los Angeles Harbor Commission liaison for the union, said port workers would never endanger national security and reminded the crowd that, even in times of labor strife, longshore workers have done their part for the nation.

“This union has a long-standing policy,” he said. “During a strike, we move all military goods, troops and passengers.”

Rhetoric has grown tense in the last week, with each side claiming the other is not bargaining seriously. Key differences are the introduction of labor-saving technology and union concerns about outsourcing jobs.

The Pacific Maritime Assn. has called for professional mediation unless it sees “hard bargaining” at the table today.

“If the union comes in with a proposal and I see any room at all for us to begin to get into real serious negotiations, then we can move forward,” said PMA President Joseph Miniace.

Union spokesman Steve Stallone said members of the union negotiating team met Monday afternoon to discuss a new proposal. However, he said they were unlikely to agree to mediation as long as Bush administration officials hold out the prospect of intervention in the event of a strike.

The AFL-CIO executive council last week pledged its support to the longshore union and called for no intervention. The Los Angeles City Council also voted to ask the Bush administration to remain outside the negotiations.

“Our contention is that we’ve never yet had an opportunity to sit down with just the two parties. We’ve always had a third party lurking in the background,” said Stallone, referring to administration officials. “I think it’s possible to come to an agreement if there’s no intervention.”