SAN FRANCISCO >> Both sides in the West Coast ports dispute resume bargaining today wondering whether progress in their contract dispute is the new rule -- or the exception that proves labor peace remains beyond the horizon. Pensions are hot topic
as port talks resumeBy Justin Pritchard
Associated PressAfter a week's break, longshoremen and shipping companies were slated to renew their first party-to-party talks with a federal mediator since Nov. 5. They've spent the break mulling pension proposals, the next hot topic in a clash that led to last month's 10-day shutdown of 29 major Pacific ports.
In these negotiations, pensions are laden with symbolism.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union says retirement benefits must be sweetened in exchange for the introduction of computerized cargo tracking systems that will make dockside work more efficient but also cost jobs.
The union calculates that the more efficient technology will save shipping lines and port terminal operators "at least $200 million a year," said spokesman Steve Stallone -- and longshoremen want a bite of that pie.
"When the workers step up as we have to advance the industry at the cost of some of our jobs, we deserve some compensation for that and we deserve to have some retirement security," Stallone said. "And we want to take it in the form of pensions."
The shipping industry press has reported that association members are divided over what has been federal mediator Peter Hurtgen's greatest feat to date -- a tentative agreement to expand the cargo tracking process.
In announcing the hiatus last week, Hurtgen said the Pacific Maritime Association that represents shipping companies wanted time "to evaluate anticipated technology-based operational savings and pension funding costs into future years."
A spokesman for the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents port employers, said "We are looking forward to working hard on reaching agreement on the issues that remain and getting to a contract deal as soon as we can."
He declined to comment further, citing the request of mediator Hurtgen for a media blackout on the details of the negotiations.
Still, a few things are clear.
The tentative technology agreement could be imperiled if Hurtgen can't get both sides closer on pensions. And the difference between the pension offers from both sides is wide.
In October, the association offered a 25 percent pension increase over five years. The union countered with a proposal that would bring the maximum annual retirement benefit to about $50,000 for its most experienced members.
That may sound like retirement in style, but by general standards it is a little low given union members' wages.
The most experienced foremen on the docks average $167,000 a year. Even with Social Security, $50,000 doesn't approach the pension industry formula that a retiree needs to receive 70 percent of wages to maintain his standard of living.
A regular longshoreman averages an $80,000 annual salary for full-time work.
"It sounds like a really great pension for the rank and file, but it's probably on the low side if you're a foreman," said Ron Gebhardtsbauer, senior pension fellow at the American Academy of Actuaries.
Also simmering is a potential Justice Department case against the 10,500-member union based on employer allegations of a coordinated work slowdown.
Federal prosecutors haven't said whether they believe the charges, which the association said it has documented in papers filed last month, but will report to a federal judge Thursday on the status of their investigation.
When U.S. District Judge William Alsup ended a 10-day lockout of employees he ordered that work resume at a "normal pace" and has broad authority to impose sanctions if he determines either party is violating that order.
Reaching a contract agreement is crucial to a slumping U.S. economy because the docks handle about $300 billion worth of goods each year and any port disruptions ripple through world financial markets.
The 10-day lockout by the employers in September and October, for example, paralyzed billions of dollars worth of goods and forced the Bush administration to invoke the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act to get the ports back in business.
Pacific Maritime Association
International Longshore and Warehouse Union
