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ILWU Rejects EGT Contract
January 11 - 24, 2013
Serving the Seven Cities of the Harbor Area
International Longshore and Warehouse Union members rejected a contract offer from Northwest grain terminal owners by 93.8 percent on Dec. 21 and 22, 2012, nine days after talks ended. The labor dispute involves six terminals using a single agreement with the ILWU. About 3,000 people have been working without a contract since Sept. 2012. Terminal owners, known as Pacific Northwest Grain Handler’s Association, want to secure a similar contract to one that Export Grain Terminal, or EGT, made in January 2012 in Longview, Wash. Both sides say their disputes are about working conditions, not wages. Employers state that wages for ILWU members will increase to a range of $34 to $36 an hour. With an additional $30 an hour in benefits, the combined wages and benefits of the union members will be $64 to $66 an hour. The EGT contract permits mandatory 12-hour shifts, limits control room operations to managers, and gives management broad latitude to make new rules, change methods and discipline employees, without workers’ input. The EGT contract allows the company to make permanent hires and requires the union to keep a list of workers who can be hired and fired at management’s discretion, as well as allowing stiff sanctions for strikes and other on-the-job protest actions. It also allows for fewer employees to load ships, flexibility to use elevator employees to assist in ship-loading; ability to eliminate the practice of paying employees a half-hour’s wages for working as little as six minutes; to hold the union to its agreement not to engage in work stoppages during the term of the agreement; and greater flexibility in start/stop times to meet production needs, among other stipulations. Grain terminal owners have been laying the legal groundwork for a possible lockout, bringing replacement workers who are willing to cross picket lines into the area. Three owners—Louis Dreyfus Commodities, Marubeni Corp. and Mitsui & Co.—notified the union that they planned to implement the rejected contract at 6 a.m. Dec. 27, 2012. Union workers, who are free to strike, continued to show up for work without a union contract, knowing well that employers also are free to replace them. A fourth employer, TEMCO reportedly is maintaining the old contract terms at its terminals in Tacoma and Portland.
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Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council Comments Critical of Ponte Vista Project
“While this DEIR is an improvement over the document prepared by the previous developer, it is seriously flawed,” the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council said in its official comment document subitted on the new Ponte Vista proposal. “The proposed project does not appear to be a good fit for the community nor for this geographically unique property. We have problems with the underlying assumptions and conclusions in the DEIR mainly relating to traffic, social services, utilities and service systems. Because the analysis is built on faulty assumptions, it is in effect a ‘house of cards,’ and all conclusions based on the analysis are also faulty,” the document said, before going into more specific details, including: The rezoning request will impair the orderly implementation of Regional Plans, City’s General Plan, and two Community Plans. The DEIR incorrectly identifies the project News Briefs/to following page
Other Side of the Apocalypse period were not to be allowed to re-set up shop. In the following days and weeks, the California’s Secretary of State announced that several proponents of marijuana initiatives were given permission to begin collecting signatures for their measures, but ultimately they failed to make the ballot. One of the initiatives would have established a new regulatory agency that oversees the cultivation, manufacture, distribution, testing and sale of medical marijuana, as well as impose fees and a 2.5 percent tax on medical marijuana retail sales. The proponents ultimately abandoned the effort after failing to raise enough money to collect the signatures, but vowed to work with state legislators to accomplish their long term goals. Medical pot was often a litmus test issue, forcing candidates in local races from Long Beach City Council Candidate Daryl Supernaw to candidate Jackie Lacey to stake a position whether they would have power over enforcement or not. On Sept. 17, the Los Angeles City Clerk verified that petitioners had received 110 percent of the requisite 27,425 signatures needed to force a referendum on the ban which was enacted by the Los Angeles City Council this past July. This led to the city council repealing the ban on pot dispensaries a short time later in a 11-2 vote on Oct. 2. Councilman Joe Buscaino’s vote was one of the minority. The council’s move kept a referendum on the ban off the March 5, 2013 ballot, when Angelenos will head to the polls to vote on—among other things—who will replace Antonio Villaraigosa as the city’s next mayor. Perhaps what was most interesting is the diversity amongst the ranks of proponents. Previously, we have heard from patients, pot dispensary owners and even recreational users, but who’d ever consider members of law enforcement? In the July 26 edition of Random Lengths, we ran a profile on Stephen Downing, an executive
board member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, or LEAP. The organization led a multistate caravan this past summer to bring attention to legalization efforts. Nevertheless, the federal government continued raiding pot dispensaries and schools that provide training in cannabis agriculture such as the one in Oakland, Calif.
War on Women Comes to Town
T
wenty-twelve was the year the cold war against women turned hot. Radio personality and defacto mouth piece of the national Republican Party Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke, a law student, a “slut,” when she gave congressional testimony advocating for contraception to be covered by a health care bill. Personhood movements in Midwestern and Southern states were gaining ground, a movement that would give even unimplanted fertilized eggs— millions of which die naturally every year—rights that supersede those of mothers. This occurred within the same context of Planned Parenthood being defunded by Congress as a result of falsehoods and half truths. In the April 19 edition, Random Lengths covered the local end of the backlash against this Republican war on women when we profiled the efforts of Sherry Anne Lear, along with compatriots Nanette Harrison along with core volunteers, Deborah Favorite and Melissa Stephens. Lear, a San Pedro resident and civil litigation lawyer, noted that her awakening as a women’s rights activist came when she saw colleagues defending Limbaugh after his verbal assault on Fluke. From then on, running skirmishes over abortion rights and personhood legislation across Harbor Area Year in Review/ to p. 6
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POC Developer
irregular as well. “I disagree with that process,” she said. “But I hope that the one that they have chosen addresses most of the community concerns and will be the vehicle that will allow us to craft the correct filling out of that proposal.” Smith added that she was encouraged that the two top commissioners had both stressed the need for community involvement. She also pointed out as PCAC co-chair that “we’ve had a lot of experience in doing this and we are ready to serve in that capacity again.” “The selection team did a good job,” said Sue Castillo, a professional planner who chairs the Planning and Land Use Committee for Central Neighborhood Council, adding that she was “happy to see that they quickly dismissed the concepts that were obvious misfits.” But she did express some concerns. “It will take a sharp analysis to convince me that moving the port’s administration offices to Ports O’Call is a good idea,” Castillo said. “They are heavily invested in their current building, which fits them pretty well as far as I can see... Would a new occupant be found for their existing building that would contribute to our downtown, or would this very large building just become another gaping hole in our urban fabric?” Silber, for one, shares her concerns. “I’d like to see development that enhances and does not draw from retail traffic to downtown San Pedro,” he added. “I have similar reservations about the boutique hotel and conference center,” Castillo continued. “I don’t doubt that it could generate financial returns in Ports O’Call, but I fear that its success be at the expense of our downtown Crown Plaza Hotel and its conference spaces. We cannot afford that!” continued on following page