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ILWU ''hopeful,'' but warns a strike at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is still possible tomorrow

LOS ANGELES – 07/22/07 – The talking is over and the waiting game has begun as the marine clerks working at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have submitted their final contract offer to the ports’ ocean carriers and terminal operators after all-night contract talks aimed at preventing a strike that could cripple the nation's two busiest container ports.

If the offer is rejected, the marine clerks – members of the Office Clerical Unit (OCU), Local 63, of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) could strike as early as tomorrow.

"We've done all we can," said John Fageaux Jr., president of the OCU Local 63, quickly adding that that is “hopeful” a new contract agreement would be reached.

Marine clerks handle the documentation for container shipments and other transport paperwork.Under their most recent contract, full-time, port clerical workers earned about $37.50 an hour, or $78,000 a year. They also receive a pension, health care benefits free of premiums, and 20 paid holidays a year.

According to sources close to the negotiations, the employers' latest offer, made last week, included raises that over the life of a three-year contract would bump the employees' hourly pay to $39.20; the ILWU is seeking increases that would equal $53 per hour by the last year of the contract.

Another major issue in the talks was the shippers' request for an association that could represent all the companies in collective bargaining – an idea, Fageaux said, the union has agreed to discuss the idea “in the next few years.”

The adjacent ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach handle more than 40% of the nation’s containerized imports and together handle cargo valued at $1 billion to $2 billion every day.

A strike by the marine clerks – who handle cargo documentation and other related paperwork – would effectively shut-down operations at both ports as the 15,000-member ILWU has indicated that longshoremen would honor picket lines if the clerical workers strike.

Contract talks began in May and continued after the current contract expired June 30.

Despite a strike deadline imposed last Monday by the union, the negotiating teams continued to meet through last night after a Wednesday break.

Local 63 represents more than 900 full-time and temporary employees at 17 ocean carriers and terminal operators at the two ports; the current negotiations, however, only cover the contracts for between 600 and 850 full-time and part-time workers at 14 companies.

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