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For
Immediate Release: September 30, 2002 ILWU President
James Spinosa Speaks Out, SPINOSA:
I want to thank you all for coming.
I think it’s imperative that the ILWU gets a very clear and
responsive response to what’s been happening on this West Coast and
particularly in our ports. As
many of you know, and I think the world knows, that the ILWU has been
locked out by the Pacific Maritime Association. It has been locked out
as far as we are concerned, unjustly.
This Union has been bargaining in good faith since May 13th
and has gone nowhere in this set of bargaining, due to what we feel is
an irresponsible approach to bargaining by the Pacific Maritime
Association. The Association and the Employers group have put forward a
proposal package early on in May that was designed to fail.
It was designed to fail for many reasons.
As you all know, if you look back at that time frame, PMA, going
into bargaining was talking about lock-out, the very thing we find
ourselves in today, which is nothing more than intimidation for all
those out there. The ILWU
will not be intimidated. We
will not move into a contract that is not desirable of our workforce and
their efforts. Saying that,
the ILWU continues to put forward the best effort and is willing to
meet, as we have been meeting, even though we find ourselves in an
undesirable position, we will continue to make every effort to get
ourselves a contract in this set of bargaining, and we will continue to
do so. We find ourselves locked out, fighting
the PMA, who has talked so many times about the controls that we both
must have in this set of bargaining, because of the economic situation
that this country finds itself in, and then turns around and does just
the opposite, turns around and locks out the West Coast and imperils the
economy. The Union is very
unhappy about this set of circumstances, what it does is, it brings a
position forward throughout the world, that there could be some type of
irresponsibility in this set of negotiations on behalf of this Union.
This Union has been a responsible union; we have been responsible
for over 30 years without imperiling the economic situation in our
country. We have been able
to obtain a contract for the past 30 years without any economic problem
to our country and we continue to try to do that in this bargaining. Also, since 9/11, if you look at
what’s happened since 9/11 in this set of bargaining, the Union has
approached the Employers on many occasions, putting forward demands and
proposals that would ask them to participate with this Union in securing
the ports, making the ports, so that anybody that enters the ports, or
any type of cargo that enters the ports, would be monitored to the point
that we would try to do our best to be the first line of defense for
anything that may happen like 9/11 again.
The Employers refused to participate in any such activity with
us. We have asked that a
dozen times now. We have
gone to Washington, DC and
we have gone alone. It’s
time for the Employers to step up and understand that national security
is something far beyond this set of bargaining that this country needs
and something they should join with this Union in efforts to try to
achieve. The bargaining itself centered around
technology. The Employers
have opened up that technology was their No. One proposal. As it turns out to be, the Employers themselves have moved
away from technology, even though they tried to hold this particular
bargaining session hostage to a technology package that they cannot
deliver. They cannot
deliver it for many reasons. They
are not prepared to deal with turning over the jobs that remain in the
industry and any new jobs that are created that will take this industry
forward to this Union; the jobs that are functionally equivalent to our
work and they are under obligation to this Union to do.
The Union has stepped up, the Union has told the Employers over
and over again, “we will meet you in the middle, we will allow for
free flow of information, we will allow for technology to move
forward,” so that we would strengthen our position in the global
market, on the West Coast, in these ports, providing that you meet us
halfway on the jobs that are necessary to be done, that are left to be
done in this industry. The
Employers cannot deliver that, they refuse to deliver that, their latest
proposal has been,” we really didn’t mean that we want to turn over
the jobs to your Union, what we really meant is that we want to buy your
workforce out”. Totally
unacceptable to the ILWU; we will not move along those lines, not now,
not ever in the future. What
we are looking for in this set of bargaining are jobs, jobs that remain
in the industry, jobs that are ours under the contract and the Employers
have got to step up to the table, if they want to see those West Coast
ports resume their activities like they have in the past. Other than that, I let you know that we have contacted the military and we have told the military that our obligation to this country and to our military effort is one that we will not move away from, that we make ourselves available, we will continue to make ourselves available, anything our country needs in the interests of national defense, this Union will provide. Whether they order manpower or not, we will work those ships on behalf of our nation and especially in time of need. We have endorsed that for a lifetime, being union members of this ILWU. It’s up to the Employers now to open up this set of talks and to open them up with a program that says, “let’s get a contract”. Let’s put a legitimate contract forward, one that deals with jurisdiction, one that deals with technology and the benefits that this union needs to move forward. Until that happens, this Union will continue to resist any move by the Employers that continues to erode our work or move work away from us. So, that ball is in their park. We tell Mr. Miniace and the Pacific Maritime Association, “it’s time to put up or shut up”. That’s where we’re at. JS:cc/opeiu29
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