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AFL-CIO
Support for ILWU Bargaining 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. Support for ILWU
Bargaining Page 2 · 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. |
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