Employer Group OKs Longshore Contract

Members of United States Maritime Alliance, representing Atlantic and Gulf waterfront employers, ratified a coastwide contract extension that International Longshoremen’s Association members will vote on in a Nov. 17 referendum.

Negotiators for USMX and the ILA reached tentative agreement last month on a two-year revision and extension of their current contract. If ratified by the ILA rank and file, the extension would run through September 2012.

ILA President Richard Hughes has said he is confident of rank-and-file ratification, although opponents are campaigning to reject the deal.

The contract extension would immediately boost starting pay from $16 an hour to $20 and raise the top hourly wage from $31 to $32 in 2011. It also would narrow gaps between wage tiers in 2012, when workers with nine years’ experience would advance to top scale and less-experienced workers would also receive raises.

Caps on carriers’ tonnage-based payments to container royalty programs would be eliminated, providing additional money for ILA benefits, although carriers would keep $42 million in royalties during the next year to offset the cost of an across-the-board raise that took effect Oct. 1 under the current contract.

The agreement would retain employers’ right to introduce labor-saving technology but would establish a labor-management committee to analyze the impact of technology on jobs.

Contact Joseph Bonney at jbonney@joc.com.