L.A. port enters labor agreement for Maersk terminal. (Up Front).

Port officials traditionally have stayed out of the politics of union-management negotiations, viewing themselves as a landlord for terminal operators.

But after five months of labor unrest at West Coast ports and with the second phase of the L.A. port's largest project scheduled to begin in three months, maritime officials aren't taking any chances.

The L.A. Board of Harbor Commissioners has approved its first-ever project labor agreement, a pre-employment contract stipulating wages and work rules, while prohibiting any strikes by workers on the $141 million, 141-acre portion of the Maersk Sealand terminal project on Pier 400.

"We've talked to them for years about project labor agreements," said Richard Slawson, executive secretary of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Los Angeles and Orange Counties, which helped draw up the agreement involving several unions that will be working on the project.

"With all of the happenings that have been going on at the ports -- the lockouts by the PMA, the security concerns following 9/11 - they were finally convinced that a project labor agreement would be beneficial," he said.

Port officials downplayed the timing of the agreement, claiming that the idea arose before the International Longshore and Warehouse Union's contract expired July 1.

But passage of the project labor agreement on Oct. 9 came just before the Nov. 13 deadline for bids to be submitted on construction of the wharf -- the first part of Phase 2.

It also follows completion in July of Phase 1 - a $340 million, 343-acre project that began in 1999 and had no PLA.

Port officials proposed this PLA -- something organized labor generally does -- even though there were no labor problems during the project's first phase.

"This has nothing to do with the current situation with the ILWU," said Stacey Jones, the port's chief harbor engineer. "(But) one of the benefits of a PLA is the fact that there is a no-strike, no-lockout clause. It ensures uniform work rules so it does eliminate the risk of work stoppages that affect the schedule."

Maersk moved out of its Port of Long Beach terminal and into the Phase 1 portion of its new L.A. facility in August.

No disruptions

Unions typically are the ones that propose PLAs because they guarantee that all work will be performed under prevailing wage laws. Employers like them because they provide a commitment that work will be completed on time and without work disruptions.

When the second and final phase is complete in July 2004, the port will boast having the world's largest single-occupant terminal.

All prime contractors and subcontractors must sign the PLA if they want to work on the project. Phase 2 work is expected to generate 250 to 300 jobs.

The ILWU and the Pacific Maritime Association, the ship lines' bargaining arm, have been locked in heated contract negotiations since May 13.

Both sides are currently in an 80-day cooling off period under the Taft-Hartley Act, which President Bush invoked Oct. 8 after a series of work slowdowns and the PMA's 10-day shutdown of West Coast ports.

Work continued at the port last week as shippers tried to relieve the backlog of cargo created by the 10-day lockout. But tensions remained high, as representatives of shipping companies turned over to the Justice Department what they said was proof of a systematic slowdown by the unions since they returned to work.

If federal authorities seek a contempt of court order against the union, penalties could include fines or jail time for union officials.

Should construction workers on Pier 400 stage a non-authorized "wildcat strike" in sympathy for the ILWU, language in the port's PLA calls for an expedited arbitration procedure to settle the dispute.

But there is no stipulation for financial penalties, which some port officials said should have been included in the agreement.

Labor analysts said such job actions are not likely to occur.

"You shouldn't have to worry about it," said Peter Olney, associate director of the University of California Institute for Labor and Employment. "There have been cases where there were wildcat strikes. But it's not a common occurrence."

PLAs have been used in L.A. since 1983, when the city entered into an agreement with labor organizers on the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant expansion, just south of Los Angeles International Airport. But the city also rejected a PLA for the recent renovation of City Hall.

The contracts are typically used for projects such as school district and university buildings, power plants and public transportation infrastructure.