Contract Vote Report: LWC Statement & Results
LWC, 2010 ILA Master Contract: End the wage and benefit tier, News - - Posted on December, 9 at 11:04 am
The ILA announced on Tuesday November 17 that 9,736 ILA members voted on the contract extension proposal, with 6,417 members voting yes.
Click here for the ILA’s local-by-local vote count results.
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The LWC thanks all of our ILA sisters and brothers who campaigned and educated for a better contract.
We led the fight for an end to the wage and royalty tiers, improved benefits, protection against technology, and national health and safety rules.
The ILA is stronger because of the rank-and-file who had the courage to swim against the tide and who helped create a national debate inside our union. Through our newsletter, our website, text messages, and face-to-face meetings we forced our leadership into a real discussion about the issues that affect all members.
That said we cannot approve of the ILA’s efforts to scare members into voting yes. We can expect employer threats during contract negotiations, but we should also be able to expect a union that empowers members and builds on our collective strengths to fight for a stronger agreement. The LWC is more committed than ever to building a strong union that mobilizes members and responds to members concerns.
We are also concerned about allegations of voting irregularities in several locals. The LWC has requested a local-by-local vote count from the ILA.
The LWC has correctly predicted the impact of past contracts on ILA members. Here is what we believe will be the impact of this extension:
• Most members will go more than two years without a wage increase. Before this extension expires and our promised raise to top pay goes into effect, management will ask for givebacks and economic relief either from wages or benefits.
• Many local union pension plans will be underfunded, jeopardizing our future retirements.
• Many local union welfare and benefit funds, such as those in Norfolk, Virginia and Charleston, South Carolina, will not have enough money to maintain benefits.
• ILA members will lose jobs as newly automated terminals begin to open.
• The large employers and carriers will begin to profit and expand as they prepare for increases in cargo from the Panama Canal expansion.
• Many of the International Officers who said “trust me, everything will be fine in 2012,” will retire when our dues from the container royalty fund land in the ILA treasury. They will take “Executive Retirement” money from the International’s Treasury and they will leave members holding the bag.
We are confident the LWC will continue to grow thanks to the courage and intelligence of the ILA rank-and-file who believe in a brighter future for the ILA and for longshore workers. As a result of our activity around the contract, the LWC has extended its reach into more ports and more locals than ever.
Join us in looking towards the future. Many ILA locals have elections in 2010 and the ILA Convention in 2011 will elect new International Officers.
Through the LWC’s vote no campaign we forced International Officers to travel up and down the coast to persuade the ILA’s membership to vote for this extension. We proved that we can push for more democracy in the ILA and we expect nothing less for the District and International Officer elections.
Together we will capitalize on our member’s energy and knowledge to build a stronger and more democratic ILA.
Posted in LWC, 2010 ILA Master Contract: End the wage and benefit tier, News |
November 17th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
In Baltimore Locals 333 and 1429 voted the contract down.
November 17th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
Im in local 1970 in Norfolk,va and my local which is 1970 M&R local voted the contract DOWN. Also local 1248 here in Norfolk,va voted it down also, but our 2 other locals passed it with more total yes than no…..NOT TO HAPPY ABOUT THAT.
November 18th, 2009 at 9:59 am
This is the time for the LWC to take a step back and rethink it’s strategy. I understand where you are coming from…and agree with some of the things you are saying…but you need to have a better relationship with those at the ILA and come to some type of mutual respect…until that happens neither the ILA or LWC will move this union to a better place….just a personal opinon.
November 18th, 2009 at 11:37 am
well… this is bad news. i was hopeing that our membership could have the foresight to see whats coming. what makes us think that the companies are going to honer the money due at the end of this extention. they dont wanna pay for the raises due at the end of the last contract. WE ARE PAYING FOR OUR OWN RAISES! i am very disappointed with this outcome. what about the new member coming into the industry. what have we done for them. we had 9-10 months to come to this. there was no reason to rush. we could have made them go bac to the table to come up with a better contract. THEY WOULD HAVE… the shipping lines and the companies have turned profits even while in this recession.they would have made a better offer. we could all have top pay. at worst 5yrs or 5,000 hrs. WE COULD HAVE DONE BETTER
November 18th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
I want more than just top pay….i want that 1300 hours to drop back down to 1000 hours. If you guys look in the back of the new master contract it says the total amout of money they will be giving us in 2012…some of us get a $5.00 raise and others get a $10.00 raise. But what most and almost everybody dont relize is they added the $1.00 and $1.50 we where already suppose to get.
Example: I made 26.50 before our raise in oct. and with my $1.50 raise i make $28.00 an hour. They put in there that i was getting a $5.50 total raise with the extension. BUT IM REALLY NOT CAUSE I WAS GETTING THE $1.50 RAISE ANYWAY. SO REALLY IM GETTING A $4.00 RAISE WITH THIS EXTENSION. THEY PUT THAT IN THERE TO MAKE IT SEEM LIKE MORE. SO EVERYBODYS RAISE IN THE BACK OF THAT CONTRACT IS REALLY A $1.50 OR $1.00 LESS. RE-VOTE RE-VOTE RE-VOTE RE-VOTE