Pacific Maritime Association president Joe Miniace was in Seattle last week, promoting changes he'd like to see in the next contract with West Coast longshore workers. Miniace, who represents the ocean carriers that operate large containerships, is pushing longshore workers to adapt to new technologies that will allow more automation and mechanization on the container terminals. He said international carriers complain that because of inefficiencies here, they're spending hundreds of millions of dollars extra annually to move their cargo through West Coast ports. He said he's willing to assure existing longshore workers guaranteed employment as a condition of an agreement. What's really being stalled is the introduction of technology.
People are afraid of change.
In Washington state the union has an unusual amount of power, despite its relatively small membership, by virtue of the leverage it has over the valuable cargo flowing through the state's ports. But ILWU communications director Steve Stallone said the union is wary about Miniace's proposals, contending that the real issue is jurisdiction. Union members are willing to adapt to changing technologies, as long as they don't lose the right to directly work on loading and unloading cargo, he said. What they're worried about is new technologies that will lead to the subtle bleeding away of jobs that always have been theirs, such as entering tracking data about specific containers. Over the course of time there will be no union left.