The Contract Has Been Hammered Out

Now the Rank and File Decides

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union or ILWU rank and file got to hear details of the new proposed labor agreement on Aug. 3. The consensus seemed to be that the agreement was the best they could get. 

There were pay raises for everyone from casual workers to pensioners and every classification therein. Health benefits are still generous, even if there have been some tweaks here and there. 

The new collective bargaining agreement is retroactive to July 1, 2022, and adds new stipulations intended to protect longshore jobs.

If there’s a dispute over the hiring of a certain class of workers, the dispute must be referred to the Joint Coast Labor Relations Committee within 72 hours.

An employer could forfeit their right to introduce fully mechanized and robotic-operated marine terminals at all terminals or forfeit their rights to hire any future steady longshore and clerk labor at all the terminals if the Coast Labor Relations Committee or an arbitrator finds that an employer failed to assign work under the coastwise agreement.

The proposed agreement also holds that the employers must preserve all work of the ILWU by training Bargaining Unit Personnel in work categories associated with the maintenance and repair of all stevedore cargo handling equipment. The agreement also adds a new worker classification: the “Automation Clerk.” 

The automation clerk is paid at 30% of the rate of a marine clerk and is assigned to monitor and resolve exceptions for any cargo being handled by automated container handling equipment. But they can’t be required to perform the work of other marine clerks or supervisors. 

During the contract term, the employers shall provide crane operator training to additional individuals from the registered workforce under existing selection and training procedures, as provided by addenda. 

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