Update: Los Angeles port strike averted - union agrees to final offer

By SwizStick • Jul 26th, 2007 • Category: QuickNews, Seafreight

Good news for the retail industry, importers, and the U.S. economy overall: the clerical union has agreed to the employers’ final offer:

â€œThe employers are pleased that the union recognized the substantial investment that (employers) have made and agreed to their last wage proposal,â€ said Steve Berry, a negotiator for the shippers.

The deal with the Office Clerical Unit, Local 63, of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union came after an impasse in the talks was declared late Tuesday. The 15,000-member ILWU had indicated that longshoremen would honor picket lines if the 750 clerical workers went on strike.

This is good news for the ILWU overall as well; if the clerks had gone ahead with the strike during this busy peak season, the public perception towards the ILWU come next year’s important contract negotiation would most likely have been negative, hurting their chances for a successful negotiation.

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