Waterfront Management Makes Offer to Longshoremen

Atlantic and Gulf waterfront management presented the International Longshoremen’s Association with a proposed contract extension that would delay a scheduled Oct. 1 raise, boost new workers’ pay and narrow the gap between dockworkers’ wage tiers.

Some members of the ILA’s 200-member wage scale committee, which received the management proposal Tuesday in Orlando, were unhappy that the management offer did not include a freeze they are seeking on introduction of new technology.

Representatives of United States Maritime Alliance outlined their proposal, which would extend the existing contract two years past the current agreement’s Sept. 30, 2010 expiration. ILA delegates are discussing the proposal.

Harold Daggett, the ILA’s executive vice president, has said previously that he favored delaying negotiations until next year in hope that the economy will improve and give the union more leverage. The Longshore Workers Coalition, a faction that has campaigned for more democracy in the ILA, also wants to delay negotiations and criticized the management presentation as “a dog and pony show.”

Daggett and the LWC accused ILA President Richard Hughes last month of secret negotiations with USMX. Hughes denied the allegations, and he and Daggett announced last week they would cease their public disagreements and work together on a new contract.

The USMX proposal would delay a scheduled hourly raise of $1 or $1.50, depending on pay level, scheduled to take effect Oct. 1 under the current contract. It also would boost new hires’ $16 hourly pay to $20, and establish a formula to narrow the gap between senior workers and those hired since tiered wages were implemented in 1996.

The proposal also would lift the cap on container royalties that employers pay to support dockworkers’ annual bonuses and other benefits. The LWC has criticized details of those changes.

Contact Joseph Bonney at jbonney@joc.com.