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Strike! Ports of LA and Long Beach face possible shutdown as clerical workers picket terminals
LA Daily News ^ | 11/28/2012 01:48:18 PM PST | By Brian Sumers Staff Writer

Posted on 11/28/2012 5:03:39 PM PST by DeaconBenjamin

Clerical workers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are walking off the job at all terminals and setting up picket lines outside at least some of them, a move that could effectively shut down most port activity, sources have told the Daily Breeze.

Other longshore workers at the nation's busiest port complex are not expected to cross the picket lines this afternoon, and business is expected to shut down at many of the terminals, a source said.

The major job action comes one day after members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 Office Clerical Unit struck APM Terminals at Pier 400 at the Port of Los Angeles. They were joined by other bargaining units of the longshore workers who refused to cross the picket line, curbing operations at what port officials call the busiest terminal in San Pedro. Port of Long Beach

On Tuesday night, an arbitrator ordered the dockworkers at Pier 400 back to work, but this morning they refused.

About 800 workers belonging to the ILWU Local 63's Office Clerical Unit have been working without contracts since June 30, 2010. Union officials say they want new contracts to protect workers against outsourcing jobs abroad. Management officials say they have no intention of outsourcing jobs to other countries.

With the strike now affecting most terminals, both sides are expected to continue their legal maneuvering today, and it is possible that the Pacific Maritime Association, a consortium of all port operators on the West Coast, will go to federal court to seek a temporary restraining order that requires the longshore workers to return to work, sources said.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; US: California
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1 posted on 11/28/2012 5:03:44 PM PST by DeaconBenjamin
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To: DeaconBenjamin

Right before the big Christmas push.

And they will wonder why Mexican ports get so much business.


2 posted on 11/28/2012 5:07:58 PM PST by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: DeaconBenjamin

Commie union Neanderthals are such a bunch of crybaby whiners. One tantrum after another. No wonder they don’t have any time to do the jobs they’re hired to do.


3 posted on 11/28/2012 5:09:40 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (Don't tax me bro! Tax that guy over there!)
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To: DeaconBenjamin

I think I would tell them I’d see them after January 1, 2013, and enjoy your extended vacation.


4 posted on 11/28/2012 5:09:46 PM PST by Grams A (The Sun will rise in the East in the morning and God is still on his throne.)
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To: DeaconBenjamin
they want new contracts to protect workers against outsourcing jobs abroad.

If the job is to unload ships in Lng Beach, how can that be outsourced,i.e., how can someone in India unload a ship in California?

5 posted on 11/28/2012 5:10:21 PM PST by tbpiper
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To: DeaconBenjamin

Just replace them...

wait.. how do you outsource a port??


6 posted on 11/28/2012 5:14:11 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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To: tbpiper

If you can figure out how, let’s do it. lol


7 posted on 11/28/2012 5:15:39 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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To: tbpiper

It is the Office Clerical group in the ILWU that has been working without a contract the last 5 months. The sticky issue is having their jobs outsourced to foreign workers overseas.


8 posted on 11/28/2012 5:15:47 PM PST by SatinDoll (NATURAL BORN CITZEN: BORN IN THE USA OF CITIZEN PARENTS.)
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To: tbpiper
If the job is to unload ships in Lng Beach, how can that be outsourced,i.e., how can someone in India unload a ship in California?

Ship them in?

9 posted on 11/28/2012 5:16:38 PM PST by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal The 16th Amendment!)
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To: FReepers; Patriots
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10 posted on 11/28/2012 5:16:53 PM PST by onyx (FREE REPUBLIC IS HERE TO STAY! DONATE MONTHLY! IF YOU WANT ON SARAH PALIN''S PING LIST, LET ME KNOW)
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To: tbpiper
"If the job is to unload ships in Lng Beach, how can that be outsourced,i.e., how can someone in India unload a ship in California?"

I don't know for sure, but since it's the clerical unit, I'm guessing it's an asset visibility /inventory management function they do, monitoring what's loaded and unloaded at the dock. With bar codes, scanners and computers, it's a job just as easily done from Mumbai as it is from an air conditioned office at the dock that the worker never leaves.

11 posted on 11/28/2012 5:16:58 PM PST by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
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To: DeaconBenjamin

Clerical workers? Let me guess. They want hundreds of clerical workers to add up columns of numbers with an adding machine instead of one clerical worker using a computer.


12 posted on 11/28/2012 5:19:58 PM PST by forgotten man (forgotten man)
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To: DeaconBenjamin

Stop Electing DEMOCRATS you dummies....the cost of business in the U.S. is so high causing companies to LOOK for BETTER OPTIONS elsewhere....


13 posted on 11/28/2012 5:23:57 PM PST by goodnesswins (R.I.P. Doherty, Smith, Stevens, Woods.)
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To: DeaconBenjamin

What would they like? $120 an hour (up from $80) to drive a forklift all day?


14 posted on 11/28/2012 5:25:41 PM PST by Dallas59 (President Robert Gibbs 2009-2011)
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To: GeronL
wait.. how do you outsource a port??

Ensenada is about 60-odd miles south of the border.

15 posted on 11/28/2012 5:29:21 PM PST by Fiji Hill (Io Triumphe!)
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To: DeaconBenjamin

It would be fitting if the Police and LE would strike in the area where these folks are striking. Any bets how ugly it would get?


16 posted on 11/28/2012 5:29:59 PM PST by vetvetdoug
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To: Joe 6-pack

That’s why this union fought the introduction of barcodes in the first place. I remember the stories on FR from the early 2000’s.


17 posted on 11/28/2012 5:32:20 PM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: 2banana
Right before the big Christmas push.

So buy U.S. made products.

18 posted on 11/28/2012 5:33:03 PM PST by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: DeaconBenjamin

             

19 posted on 11/28/2012 5:40:59 PM PST by tomkat (a million tiny cuts .. add yours daily .. be creative)
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To: SatinDoll

Sorry, that is not an accurate description of the issue. These unions are pushing back against technology improvements.

——Some union members also complain that technology itself jeopardizes jobs by automating some of the work previously performed manually by workers covered under old union contracts.

This has been a long standing effort of those Port Unions to avoid modernization.

——Technology emerged as a sticking point as the International Longshoremen’s Association and Atlantic and Gulf waterfront management entered a second day of discussions on a possible contract extension of their coastwide master contract.

http://www.joc.com/maritime-news/longshoremen-management-resume-talks_20090902.html

The combination of automated and manual crane operation results in a faster transfer, Harris said. For example, the Portsmouth terminal operates at a rate of 45 container-moves per hour, compared with a nationwide average of 35 to 38 moves.

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2012/01/post_104.html


20 posted on 11/28/2012 6:00:58 PM PST by sgtyork (The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage. Thucydidesm)
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