Mediator Calls for Pause in Port Talks
Less than a week after reaching a breakthrough agreement on the replacement of union jobs with new technology on West Coast docks (see WIT for Nov. 4, 2002), the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) are again at an impasse. This most recent in a string of rough spots in negotiations covering seventy-nine employers and almost 11,000 workers, is related to the union?s demands for larger increases in company contributions to pension plans in order to compensate for increased pressure on the plans as workers are replaced with new equipment. A mediator with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS)---which is overseeing the negotiations following a federal back-to-work order---called for a one-week break yesterday to allow the PMA to look over the union?s pension proposal, and to give both sides a chance to cool down.