Dockworkers rally to demand union jobs at new port terminal.

About 1,000 unionized dockworkers, angry that non-union longshoremen might be hired to operate the Port of L.A.'s giant new coal export terminal, held a massive rally Jan. 10-12 in front of the port's office and the partially constructed terminal, displaying pro-union signs.

The powerful International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union represents virtually all of the more than 7,000 longshoremen employed on the West Coast. Longshoremen load and unload cargo.

The union has a contract with the Pacific Maritime Association, an organization whose members are most of the steamship lines that call on the West Coast ports.

Construction began in September 1995 on the Los Angeles Export Terminal, a 120-acre project designed to export coal and petroleum coke. Completion is slated for 1997.

The terminal will be owned by the port and a group of private investors called LAXT Corp., said port spokeswoman Barbara Yamamoto. These investors include steamship companies that belong to the Pacific Maritime Association, as well as utility and other companies with interest in the coal and coke. The port has a 15-percent stake, she said.

But the ILWU is less than pleased with LAXT's recent decision to negotiate with a subsidiary of Salt Lake City-based Savage Industries to operate part of the terminal. Savage Industries is traditionally a non-union employer, Yamamoto said.

Regardless of the fact that some of the terminal's owners belong to the Pacific Maritime Association, the ILWU believes anyway that it has jurisdiction over all the cargo-handling activities in the port, said a trade industry source. ILWU officials were unavailable for comment.

Employees to be hired by Savage's subsidiary, Pacific Carbon Services Corp., would basically transfer coal from incoming rail cars, store it and place it on conveyor belts headed for outbound ships, Yamamoto said. Savage spokeswoman Klenell Mounteer said she could not specify how many employees there would be and had no comment.

The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners has little influence over LAXT's decision, according to a statement by commission President Leland Wong.

"As only a 15 percent shareholder of the Los Angeles Export Terminal Corp., we do not have total control over decisions being made. In fact, the port does not even have direct representation on the LAXT board," Wong stated.

"The port is a strong organized labor supporter. We have an excellent working relationship with organized labor and do not want to jeopardize that relationship," the statement continued. "We are expressing our concerns to the LAXT board and are encouraging dialog with the union to come to a resolution."