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By EDVARD PETTERSSON and

JOHN BRINSLEY

Staff Reporters

West Coast shippers have decided not to make waves at least for now.

But their decision to back off last week in agreeing to a new three-year contract with longshoremen hardly settles the central issue that divides the two sides: How fast cargo can be loaded and unloaded.

The shippers insist that the pace must be picked up. The dock workers disagree.

“It certainly looks like the (Pacific Maritime Association) is getting a lot less than they were seeking,” said George Cunningham, publisher of the Cunningham Report, a trade newsletter that covers the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

But the latest round of negotiations was only the latest chapter in a longer-term effort among shippers to get more port operations automated fightin’ words for dock workers, many of whom fear for their jobs and their hefty salaries (some running well into the six figures).

“The PMA wanted to get the productivity issue on the table in order to get people to think about it,” said Brad Dechter, president of Dependable Hawaiian Express, a freight forwarding company in Rancho Dominguez. “They may back off for now, but it is an issue that will become more and more important over the long haul.”

The PMA contends that West Coast dock workers’ productivity has fallen 6 percent over the three years since the last contract was signed even as overtime pay has skyrocketed and workers have staged more than 150 work stoppages.

The resulting labor costs, according to the PMA, are threatening the competitiveness of West Coast ports.

But officials with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union counter that productivity is better than ever, and that the PMA is changing the rules to justify reducing the union workforce.

“They are cooking the books,” said ILWU spokesman Steve Stallone. “They changed the way they calculated productivity.”

Stallone said the PMA looks at the tonnage of cargo moved per man-hour, which doesn’t take into account empty containers that must be shipped back to Asia.

How productivity is actually defined probably will be dealt with in the new agreement, though terms will not be made public until after ratification.

“If there are problems six months from now, will we fight? Sure we’ll fight, but a new productive environment should lead to increased productivity,” said Phil Resch, senior vice president of operations for the PMA.

The shipping lines got an uncomfortable taste of the ILWU’s bargaining leverage last week when crane operators in Oakland walked off the job for two days and slowdowns were reported at both local ports.

Cunningham said many of the companies represented by the PMA are based overseas and unwilling to risk a full-fledged walkout that could disrupt economies throughout the Pacific Rim.

“These people are sitting halfway around the globe, and they are more likely to settle in order to avoid disruption of their operations,” he said. “This, of course, emboldens the union.”

But the question of productivity is not going away.

“The union knows they cannot prevent this (automation) process indefinitely,” said Cunningham. “But they want to stay involved, and jurisdiction over new positions will become the next big issue.”