DOCKWORKER PACT VETOED BY TWO LOCALS : CONTRACT COULD BE OK'D ON SECOND VOTE.Byline: E. Scott Reckard Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. A tentative agreement giving 8,500 dock workers from Seattle to San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. a 13 percent raise over three years has been vetoed by union locals in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden and Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. who are angered over other provisions they say will cut their pay. The bargaining committee of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union had recommended acceptance of the new contract, which would bring base pay to $22.68 per hour. Sources at the union and at the Pacific Maritime Association The Pacific Maritime Association represents shipping companies and terminal operators. In a 2002 dispute with a longshoremen's union, 10,500 dockworkers were locked out because of an alleged slowdown. President George W. Bush is expected to invoke a cooling off period. , a shippers organization, said it had passed a union vote by a narrow margin. However, under union rules the contract is not accepted if any local votes against it, as Local 10 in San Francisco and Local 13 in Los Angeles overwhelmingly did. The vetoes could be overridden on a second vote, expected to be held the week of Sept. 16, with a 60 percent overall margin required. If that isn't achieved, the union and shippers are expected to reopen negotiations. Nearly half the goods shipped by sea to the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. enter the country through Pacific ports. However, any suggestion that the contract dispute could cause a crippling strike at West Coast ports is premature, spokesmen for both sides said Thursday. ``We're a ways away from talking strike,'' said Steven Stallone, a union spokesman. ``We have all this process to get through. Even if it's voted down again there's no automatic strike.'' ``There has been absolutely no threat of a strike. Work is continuing as normal at the West Coast ports,'' said Terry Lane, a vice president of the shippers group. ``It's not unusual for the union to take a second vote on the contract.'' Lane said the sticking points were provisions that threatened to reduce pay for some crane operators in the Los Angeles-Long Beach ports and phase out pay for travel time from the San Francisco dispatch center to the docks in Oakland. Some shippers have threatened to take freight to Gulf of Mexico Noun 1. Gulf of Mexico - an arm of the Atlantic to the south of the United States and to the east of Mexico Golfo de Mexico Atlantic, Atlantic Ocean - the 2nd largest ocean; separates North and South America on the west from Europe and Africa on the east ports if costs grow too high in California, said Jack Kyser, an economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., a private business group. ``If the contract gets any richer you could have some very strange things happen out there,'' Kyser said. ``You could kill the goose that laid our golden egg of trade.'' |
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