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COASTWISE
SINGLE INDEMNITY PLAN DOCUMENT
In case you don’t
know what the Coastwise Single indemnity Plan Document is, we can inform
you it is the fancy name of the new Benefits Plan Document based on the
awards of the 1999 contract. Its name comes from lawyers representing the
ILWU and employers haggling over what language covers our benefits awards.
We have not yet received copies of the document. This prolonged delay has
caused our members to raise some questions. They are stated in the
following letter sent to George Romero, ILWU Benefits Director:
George Romero, ILWU
Benefits Director
1188 Franklin St. 4th floor
San Francisco, CA., 94109
Brother Romero:
We are writing you
regarding some questions we have about the long delay in finalizing the
Coastwise Single Indemnity Plan document defining the awards negotiated in
the 1999 contract. Our first question is: Why do we need to depend on a
group of lawyers to decide what the agreement is supposed to mean? We
negotiated a contract, it stipulated the terms of the agreement, we won
some concessions. In former contract agreements that settled the matter.
This looks very much
to us as renegotiation by lawyers of a contract already agreed upon, and
without the consent of the ILWU membership.
Question number two:
The unsettled
question of “lifetime benefits” has not been resolved. Are the lawyer
negotiators authorized to decide this thorny question by excluding the
words “life time benefits” from the document before the matter has
been settled by legitimate negotiating procedure?
Question number three:
Is this
renegotiation of the contract by lawyers going to set a precedent? Will
future contracts have to seek the approval of language lawyers before its
awards are finalized? If so, the future of labor relations on the
waterfront likely will end up in court if the lawyers cannot come to
agreement.
This is important
because future negotiations are likely to turn on benefits issues since
money issues have become less contentious. Employers will regard benefits
their primary concern in keeping labor costs down in view of wildly
escalating health care costs.
A thing to note in all
this is the statement made by Mr. Miniace when he took over as President
and CEO of PMA. He stated in effect that under his administration the
waterfront would see some real changes in labor relations in the next ten
years brought about by “incremental steps.”
Our final question is:
Is this renegotiation of benefits awards the first of Mr. Miniace’s
“incremental steps”?
Signed:
Rudolph Martinez,
President
Seattle Longshore Pension Club
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