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West Coast port pact set
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July 16, 1999: 5:41 a.m. ET
Waterfront employers, dock workers come to terms after tense talks
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - West Coast dock workers and waterfront employers, after more than two weeks of work slowdowns and tense negotiations, reached agreement late Thursday on a new three-year contract.
Details of the new contract are not being released until the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, the labor group representing 9,600 dock workers at West Coast ports, holds a ratification vote next week.
"We are pleased to have reached an agreement to provide ILWU members with a package that rewards the hard work our membership puts forward every day at West Coast ports," said James Spinosa, ILWU chief negotiator and vice president.
The old contract expired July 1. Since that time work at West Coast ports has been conducted on a day-by-day basis. There were sporadic work actions, including a two-day walkout at the Port of Oakland, as well as work slowdowns at major port areas.
The actions, estimated to have cut productivity by up to 50 percent in some port areas, put management, represented by the Pacific Maritime Association, under pressure to reach a deal.
Source: Port of Oakland
Normal work for the West Coast
"This agreement ushers in a new era for the West Coast waterfront as we move into the 21st century," said Joseph Miniace, president and CEO of the PMA. "Working in partnership, the ILWU and the PMA will focus on meeting the global transportation needs of our customers."
The West Coast waterfront includes some of the busiest ports in the nation with more than 50 percent of all U.S. waterborne, containerized cargo moving through these ports at an estimated 1999 value of $285 billion.
West Coast dock workers are among the highest paid union workers in the world. The average West Coast longshoreman makes about $99,000 a year, according to the PMA. The wage figure doesn't include pension and medical benefits, the association said. Each longshoreman gets almost $12,000 a year in health and welfare benefits, the association said. 
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