Wednesday, November 6, 2002
West Coast dockworkers and shipping organizations made some progress last week in resolving a major contract hang-up.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association reached a tentative agreement Friday on technology issues. How technology will be rolled out at the docks to automate tasks has put the two sides at loggerheads for months.
"The parties have worked long and hard," said federal mediator Peter Hurtgen in a statement.
The statement said the PMA and the ILWU reached a tentative agreement on the use of new technology and the retention of union's jurisdiction for marine clerk work. Specific details were not released, and Hurtgen said the two sides would continue to work on other issues such as pensions.
The PMA and the ILWU have been locked in a contract dispute since the pact expired July 1. At the dispute's worst point, 29 West Coast ports were shut down for 10 consecutive days last month after the PMA imposed an employee lock-out and claimed that the union was staging work slowdowns. The lock-out ended after a federal judge granted an injunction.
By: DocMemory
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