Deal averts strike at huge port complex (S. California)

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Deal averts strike at huge port complex

By ALEX VEIGA, Associated Press Writer
18 minutes ago

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Port clerks and their employers at the nation's
largest port complex tentatively agreed on a new contract Thursday,
preventing a strike that could have crippled shipping and cost billions
of dollars, a negotiator said.

"The employers are pleased that the union recognized the substantial
investment that (employers) have made and agreed to their last wage
proposal," said Steve Berry, a negotiator for the shippers.

The deal with the Office Clerical Unit, Local 63, of the International
Longshore and Warehouse Union came after an impasse in the talks
was declared late Tuesday. The 15,000-member ILWU had indicated
that longshoremen would honor picket lines if the 750 clerical workers
went on strike.

If that happened, it could have effectively stopped the loading and
unloading of cargo at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, a
complex that accounts for more than 40 percent of all the cargo
container traffic coming into the United States.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070726/ap_on_re_us/port_labor

[Omaha Steve]

1. When people or political parties are united and stand shoulder to shoulder...

They can do incredible things. I hope our party finds it's way over the next year and a half.

Thank you Eugene for posting this important labor story.