ILWU offers to unload World Series cameras for free, but shippers refuse

SAN FRANCISCO - The hard-line management association at Pacific Coast ports didn't even let San Francisco's baseball fans take World Series photos.

That's because a freighter with a crate of promotional cameras, made in Hong Kong, sat outside of Long Beach harbor. The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) refused an International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) offer to find a tug boat, take the crate of cameras off and ship it free to San Francisco.

The cameras, labeled "World Series 2002," were to be given away to the fans attending the Oct. 24 game at PacBell Park between the home team San Francisco Giants and the Anaheim Angels. San Francisco won 4-3 before 42,703 camera-less fans.

Because the cameras weren't priority freight - unlike military shipments and food - they were backed up in the traffic jam of ships waiting to unload cargoes following the end of PMA's nearly two-week lockout of the 10,500-member ILWU at 29 West Coast ports in early October.

"Since this isn't perishable or considered a priority, we can't request to bump up the current schedule for it to be unloaded," said ILWU Local 13 President Ramon Ponce de Leon.

But ILWU found the crate of cameras was easy to get to and it lined up a port pilot and a tug boat to get it onshore, where it could be sent to San Francisco.

"With a volunteer workforce ... it could be done in half an hour. All we need was PMA's cooperation," Ponce de Leon added. He even offered to man the crane. PMA refused.

Instead, PMA sent material to the U.S. Department of Justice alleging that ILWU is deliberately slowing down off-loading at the docks of Seattle, Portland, San Francisco-Oakland, Los Angeles-Long Beach and elsewhere.

PMA asked the Bush Administration agency to argue in federal court that ILWU is violating the Taft-Hartley injunction that ended the lockout. Under Taft-Hartley it is illegal for the union to engage in "slowdowns" during a stipulated 80-day "cooling-off" period. The union claims that PMA - which represents foreign-owned shipping companies- is deliberately understaffing the docks in an attempt to bust the union.

"Taft-Hartley is the government colluding with employers to break workers and their unions," said ILWU President James Spinosa. "In spite of the Taft-Hartley injunction, we will not bow to the employers or the government. We will fight hard, but we will also fight smart."

The ILWU contract expired July 1, but early in negotiations the Bush Administration threatened to use the military to operate the ports and threatened to invoke Taft-Hartley - thus strengthening the employers' hand and giving the PMA little incentive to bargain in good faith, union officials said.

A key sticking point at the table is PMA's refusal to budge on its demand for computerization of the docks and total control of whether any resulting jobs should be unionized. ILWU has agreed to computerization, but only if all the jobs - old and new - are unionized.

On Oct. 25 the ILWU released its response to the Justice Department request for information about work slowdowns, stating that PMA mismanagement is causing the backlog.�

"Thus far, PMA has proven itself either unwilling or unable to address the tremendous logistical problems that it faces as a result of its decision to impose the lockout," Spinosa said. "Having failed to do so, it is PMA's own actions or omissions since Oct. 8, not the ILWU's, that are 'interfering with' and 'affecting the orderly continuance of work in the maritime industry�' " the union's response reads in part.

Dockworkers cite such issues as severe congestion in the terminal facilities and equipment shortages as problems that PMA has refused to deal with to help eliminate the backlog.

In the letter to the Justice Department, the ILWU categorically denies any concerted effort by the union to slow production on the docks. Instead the ILWU noted that the PMA violated the court's order by not moving cargo efficiently.

The AFL-CIO is also countering PMA's "slowdown" charges by asking the Labor Department to send safety inspectors to the docks, to join inspectors sent by the governors of California, Washington and Oregon.

The backlog of goods waiting for unloading "provides fertile grounds for controversy over whether deviations from what PMA contends is 'a normal and reasonable rate of speed' arise from legitimate concerns over safety," the labor federation said.

So far this year, due to PMA speed-up demands, five ILWU members have died in accidents, along with two non-ILWU dockworkers. The normal fatality rate is one worker per year.

�"Cargo is backed up at the Port of Portland like I've never seen, but there's nothing we can do," said Leal Sundet, chair of the ILWU Local 8 Labor Relations Committee.

Sundet believes nothing will happen in court until after Election Day. He told delegates to the Northwest Oregon Labor Council that if Republicans get control of the Senate, "I don't think there will ever be a negotiated settlement. My guess is the judge will find us in contempt. They'll start fining us and putting us in jail."

Sundet said longshore workers aren't used to asking for help, "but right now we need your help at the polls by electing labor-friendly candidates."

He said said Democrats aren't always favorable, "but they're easier to deal with than Republicans. These foreign-owned shipping companies want Republicans in control so they can write legislation to change the laws we work under."

Spinosa said that at the hearing implementing the Taft-Hartley injunction, U.S. District Judge William H. Alsup specifically ruled - with PMA's explicit consent - that the arbitration system in the contract be in force along with the rest of the contract provisions. That system requires PMA to exhaust the grievance process before taking disputes to court. PMA has failed to do so.

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