The Box - Marc Levinson [64]
Against that background, the employers made a concrete offer in 1959: in return for the elimination of work rules, they would guarantee that all A-men who had been on the roster in 1958 would at least equal their 1958 earnings in future years, and that employment would shrink only as longshoremen quit or retired. The union produced a counteroffer in November. In return for each man-hour saved by more efficient methods of cargo handling, it asked the employers to pay one hour’s average wage into a compensation fund. Trouble was, no one knew how much money might be involved. St. Sure finally grabbed a number out of thin air and offered the union $1 million in compensation for all work that might be lost owing to automation prior to June 1960. Bridges naturally asked for more, making a counteroffer of $1.5 million, and a temporary deal was struck. In return for $1.5 million and a guarantee that no A-men would be laid off, the union agreed that the employers had the right to change methods of work over the coming months. Negotiations on a permanent arrangement would continue.22
Months of serious study and dialogue ensued, involving the ILWU, the Pacific Maritime Association, and a variety of dissident factions within both groups. When formal negotiations reopened on May 17, 1960, St. Sure announced that the employers would not sign another interim agreement on automation; they wanted a complete contract. The union again proposed that employers contribute to a worker compensation fund based on man-hours saved. The ship lines had supported just such a concept in 1959. Now, however, they changed their tune, offering flat annual payments to buy out the old work rules for a fixed price, with no obligation to share future cost savings. Three days later, Bridges accepted the idea in principle. The union threw a figure on the table: $5 million per year over four years, an amount equivalent to about twenty cents each year for each man-hour worked in 1959.23
Dozens of bargaining sessions followed before the landmark Mechanization and Modernization Agreement was finally signed on October 18, 1960. On the management side, small coastal carriers, Japanese steamship lines, and stevedoring companies all demanded exemptions from contributing to the guarantee fund, and St. Sure had to threaten resignation to obtain unanimous support from the Pacific Maritime Association’s executive committee. The political problems on the union side were even worse. The ILWU local in San Francisco had agreed to terms for handling Matson’s new containership, Hawaiian Citizen, but when the vessel called at Los Angeles in August 1960, just as the mechanization talks were reaching a critical stage, ILWU Local 13 refused to work the ship. The Maritime Association promptly shut the entire port, and several ship lines threatened to move next door to Long Beach, where a different union local held sway. The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors responded with a proposed ordinance making port employees civil servants with no right to strike, an idea that was anathema to the ILWU. Bridges was forced to crack down hard on Local 13. Port, union, and Maritime Association officials signed an unusual agreement setting out penalties for men who refused to work as directed. St. Sure and Bridges made a joint appearance before the Board of Supervisors promising to install a full-time arbitrator to deal quickly with any labor disputes in the port. The Los Angeles docks reopened within a couple of weeks, but bad feelings lingered