Chicago, IL
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is engaged in a critical collective bargaining fight that has implications for the entire labor movement. The ILWU represents 16,000 dockworkers who handle cargo in ports along the West Coast. The union is negotiating with the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), the employer group that is attempting to slash workers' health benefits and introduce new technology aimed at outsourcing union jobs. Other employers, such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Target, have joined together in the West Coast Waterfront Coalition to support the PMA.
The ILWU contract with PMA expired on July 1, 2002. In a show of good faith, the ILWU has continued to negotiate beyond the expiration, working on a day-by-day contract extension. However, the PMA has indicated that it may lockout ILWU members and is seeking federal intervention to support a lockout. Negotiations will resume on August 14.
The Bush Administration is threatening the ILWU with military action in support of a lockout of the ILWU longshore workers in the event of an impasse in negotiations. The mere threat of intervention is an unconscionable effort to bolster the PMA's contract demands and threatens the legitimate collective bargaining rights of longshore workers. On a larger scale, the threatened use of federal troops to determine the outcome of a collective bargaining dispute undermines the basic civil rights of the labor movement and all American workers.
The AFL-CIO supports the efforts of the ILWU, and all other affected unions, in their efforts to reach a fair and equitable resolution of the current bargaining dispute. We already have staff on the ground in a half-dozen strategic West Coast port cities organizing actions to bolster the ILWU's bargaining position.
In addition, the AFL-CIO will take the following actions, and urge federation affiliates to do so as well:
· Communicate with the Bush Administration and urge it to publicly pledge that it will not intervene in the collective bargaining process and under no circumstances use troops to support a lockout and undermine the basic rights of American workers.
· Urge other elected officials to call upon the Bush Administration to extricate itself from this legitimate labor dispute and adopt a position of non-intervention.
· Work with the ILWU to support upcoming mobilization efforts and Labor Day rallies in support of the longshore workers' struggle.
· Take all other appropriate actions to support and assist the ILWU in its fight for a just contract.