Negotiators reached a tentative deal late Tuesday to end the strike that has hobbled the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for more than a week.
"The [union leadership] has voted to approve a contract that they'll take to their members," Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.
The deal would not become final unless it is authorized in a vote of the 800-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit.
Both union and harbor employers spent most of Tuesday huddled inside a community center near the port. Two federal mediators joined Villaraigosa there at about 8:30 p.m. as negotiators for the union were voting behind closed doors.
Word of the deal came shortly after federal mediators arrived to try to break the impasse between port employers and the union.
The strike began Nov. 27 as the clerical workers' union voiced frustration about shipping line employers outsourcing jobs, an accusation the Harbor Employers Assn. has denied.
Though the union is small, it was backed by the 10,000 regional members of the ILWU, which honored the picket line and refused to work.
The strike shut down 10 of the 14 cargo container terminals at the nation's busiest seaport complex.
Since the strike began, 20 ships have been diverted to other ports, including Oakland and Ensenada. Other cargo ships have sat anchored outside the L.A. and Long Beach ports, waiting for a resolution to the labor dispute.
The port employers had been pushing for mediation since last week. Clerical workers agreed only after Villaraigosa intervened early Tuesday.
"When unions are weak, they badly want mediators, and when they are strong, they sometimes don't," said Nelson Lichtenstein, who directs the Center for the Study of Work, Labor and Democracy at UC Santa Barbara. "This was a sign that the union felt it was dealing from a position of strength."
The dispute isn't about wages or benefits. It centered on the claim by the union that employers have steadily outsourced jobs through attrition. The union says the employers have transferred work from higher-paid union members to lower-paid employees in other states and countries.
The shipping lines dispute that contention, saying they've offered the workers full job security. Their proposal also includes wage and pension increases.
The workers don't have ordinary clerk and secretarial jobs. They are logistics experts who process a massive flow of information on the content of ships' cargo containers and their destinations.
The clerical workers, among the highest-paid in the country, are responsible for booking cargo, filing customs documentation, and monitoring and tracking cargo movements.
For example, any hazardous cargo, such as chemicals, that arrives or leaves through the ports requires appropriate documentation. The clerical workers ensure that containers flagged by customs or the U.S. Department of Agriculture are held for inspection and cleared before they exit the ports.
According to union officials and the Harbor Employers Assn., the average hourly rate for clerical workers is $40.50 an hour — which amounts to about $84,000 a year. In comparison, the median annual wage for cargo and freight agents was $37,150 in May 2010, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
As talks dragged on, employers offered to raise the union workers' total compensation package. The employers say total compensation currently averages $165,000, but that amount includes healthcare, pension contributions, time off and other benefits in addition to salary.
The latest proposal would raise that average to $195,000 and include a $1-an-hour increase in pay each year for the next two years.
The union, however, pushed for a contract that would prevent employers from outsourcing jobs in the future, said Craig Merrilees, a spokesman for the clerical workers' union.
Both sides expect that two mediators — high-profile negotiators with experience in past labor disputes — would speed negotiations.
Director George H. Cohen and Deputy Director Scot L. Beckenbaugh of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service were expected to meet with both sides beginning Tuesday evening. Between them, they have mediated labor disputes involving the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer and grocery chains.
Villaraigosa said it was clear to him the rift between the two sides was too large to be resolved without an experienced mediator guiding the talks.
"There's a lot at stake here," Villaraigosa said, adding that the talks needed a greater "sense of urgency."
[email protected]
[email protected]
Times staff writers Stuart Pfeifer and Scott Wilson contributed to this report.
"The [union leadership] has voted to approve a contract that they'll take to their members," Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.
The deal would not become final unless it is authorized in a vote of the 800-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit.
Both union and harbor employers spent most of Tuesday huddled inside a community center near the port. Two federal mediators joined Villaraigosa there at about 8:30 p.m. as negotiators for the union were voting behind closed doors.
Word of the deal came shortly after federal mediators arrived to try to break the impasse between port employers and the union.
The strike began Nov. 27 as the clerical workers' union voiced frustration about shipping line employers outsourcing jobs, an accusation the Harbor Employers Assn. has denied.
Though the union is small, it was backed by the 10,000 regional members of the ILWU, which honored the picket line and refused to work.
The strike shut down 10 of the 14 cargo container terminals at the nation's busiest seaport complex.
Since the strike began, 20 ships have been diverted to other ports, including Oakland and Ensenada. Other cargo ships have sat anchored outside the L.A. and Long Beach ports, waiting for a resolution to the labor dispute.
The port employers had been pushing for mediation since last week. Clerical workers agreed only after Villaraigosa intervened early Tuesday.
"When unions are weak, they badly want mediators, and when they are strong, they sometimes don't," said Nelson Lichtenstein, who directs the Center for the Study of Work, Labor and Democracy at UC Santa Barbara. "This was a sign that the union felt it was dealing from a position of strength."
The dispute isn't about wages or benefits. It centered on the claim by the union that employers have steadily outsourced jobs through attrition. The union says the employers have transferred work from higher-paid union members to lower-paid employees in other states and countries.
The shipping lines dispute that contention, saying they've offered the workers full job security. Their proposal also includes wage and pension increases.
The workers don't have ordinary clerk and secretarial jobs. They are logistics experts who process a massive flow of information on the content of ships' cargo containers and their destinations.
The clerical workers, among the highest-paid in the country, are responsible for booking cargo, filing customs documentation, and monitoring and tracking cargo movements.
For example, any hazardous cargo, such as chemicals, that arrives or leaves through the ports requires appropriate documentation. The clerical workers ensure that containers flagged by customs or the U.S. Department of Agriculture are held for inspection and cleared before they exit the ports.
According to union officials and the Harbor Employers Assn., the average hourly rate for clerical workers is $40.50 an hour — which amounts to about $84,000 a year. In comparison, the median annual wage for cargo and freight agents was $37,150 in May 2010, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
As talks dragged on, employers offered to raise the union workers' total compensation package. The employers say total compensation currently averages $165,000, but that amount includes healthcare, pension contributions, time off and other benefits in addition to salary.
The latest proposal would raise that average to $195,000 and include a $1-an-hour increase in pay each year for the next two years.
The union, however, pushed for a contract that would prevent employers from outsourcing jobs in the future, said Craig Merrilees, a spokesman for the clerical workers' union.
Both sides expect that two mediators — high-profile negotiators with experience in past labor disputes — would speed negotiations.
Director George H. Cohen and Deputy Director Scot L. Beckenbaugh of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service were expected to meet with both sides beginning Tuesday evening. Between them, they have mediated labor disputes involving the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer and grocery chains.
Villaraigosa said it was clear to him the rift between the two sides was too large to be resolved without an experienced mediator guiding the talks.
"There's a lot at stake here," Villaraigosa said, adding that the talks needed a greater "sense of urgency."
[email protected]
[email protected]
Times staff writers Stuart Pfeifer and Scott Wilson contributed to this report.