DOCK UNION, SHIP LINES OK CONTRACT BIG MAJORITIES VOTE YES.

Byline: From Staff and Wire Reports

The labor dispute that shut West Coast ports and hamstrung Pacific Rim trade last fall formally ended Wednesday as spokesmen for dockworkers and shipping companies announced separately they had overwhelmingly approved a new six-year contract.

Nearly 90 percent of International Longshore and Warehouse Union members who voted approved the multibillion-dollar deal, which should bring labor peace to 29 major ports that badly need to modernize - and are expected to do so under the pact.

Slightly more than 7,400 members voted for the deal and nearly 900 against it - the largest margin of victory for any longshoremen's contract, according to union officials. Voter turnout was 85 percent.

``They had union meetings to question the negotiators about it and plenty of time to debate it among themselves,'' said union President Jim Spinosa. ``They understood the terms of the contract, the times it was negotiated in and the victory it represents.''

The contract will take effect Feb. 1.

Union members began voting by mail earlier this month and sent bundles of ballots to San Francisco headquarters for the official count.

The Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping lines and terminal operators, also announced Wednesday that its member companies had overwhelmingly ratified the deal.

``Today we begin a new era at West Coast ports,'' association President Joseph Miniace said. ``A modern waterfront will create new jobs, strengthen our economy and enable us to better maintain port security.''

The deal boasts handsome benefits, including no-cost health insurance and a 60 percent increase in pensions. By 2008, a union member will receive an annual pension of $1,800 multiplied by the number of years worked; for example, a 30-year veteran would get $54,000 per year in retirement.

``In a time when more working families than ever are struggling with rising health-care costs and insecure retirements, the ILWU has won a historic contract, which sets a much-needed benchmark in health care, pensions and living standards,'' said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka, whom both sides have credited with helping to hammer out the deal.

Salaries will increase 12 percent, giving the average longshoreman around $90,000 in annual pay.

In exchange, union members are expected to accept a new wave of computer technology to speed the flow of goods through already-congested ports. As technology arrives, however, so too will new rounds of disputes between the two sides.

Companies have been aching for new cargo-handling systems, and ``many companies are planning to bring in technology, certainly over the next several months,'' said association spokesman Steve Sugerman.

Companies will try to keep many of the new technology-dependent jobs under their control, while the union members will argue that the jobs are theirs under the contract language.

``I'm sure the arbitration process is going to get a workout,'' said union spokesman Steve Stallone.

Increased efficiency would hit the work force, though not too hard. The contract calls for all current union members to keep their jobs, but as they retire, about 400 positions could be lost.

In practice, relations between longshoremen and their bosses have been smooth since union leaders overwhelmingly approved the multibillion-dollar deal in December, according to spokesmen from both sides.

Goods have been flowing across West Coast docks far faster than they did in the holiday season, when it took federal intervention to reopen ports darkened by the labor battle.

``We are very pleased the dockworkers and shipping companies have been able to come to an agreement, and we look forward to more than six years of contractual bliss,'' said Will Berg, a spokesman for the Port of Hueneme.

West Coast ports have long been deemed less efficient than some of their Asian and European counterparts - something the new contract tries to address by introducing computerized cargo-tracking technology.

Still, the relatively smooth flow of goods across the docks is a stark contrast to the backup in autumn, when President George W. Bush asked a federal judge to reopen ports that slammed shut when the association locked out workers for 10 days.

Companies said longshoremen were coordinating a work slowdown that amounted to a strike with pay. Union officials said bosses were bargaining in bad faith, so workers were strictly observing safety codes.

The economic shock waves from the dispute spilled across the nation. The ports handle more than $300 billion in trade each year. As huge cargo ships sat at anchor, parts-starved auto assembly lines shut down, perishable farm cargo rotted, and irate truckers idled in miles-long lines.

Only after Bush used the Taft-Hartley Act to reopen the ports on Oct. 9 did contract talks progress with the subtle cajoling of a federal mediator. Late on the evening of Nov. 23, negotiators from both sides inked a tentative deal, which a delegation of union leaders approved overwhelmingly Dec. 12.

Despite the overwhelming support from both union leaders and the rank and file, not all union members supported the deal.

Jerry Cressa, a veteran crane driver in the Port of Portland, said the deal will drive a wedge between the most skilled workers - who get a bonus under the deal - and the least skilled, who do not.

``I do not understand what has happened to the ILWU when it seems to be adopting the employers' own corporate mentality: The elite deserve more than the majority,'' Cressa said. ``The transformation will make us weaker and weaker until we are no match for the employers in the next contract negotiation in six long years.''