THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 2, 1996 TAG: 9610020637
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 53 lines
Negotiators reached agreement on a new port labor contract in Hampton Roads at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, with both management and union leaders saying they were pleased with the pact.
The local contract and a previously concluded master agreement covering ports from Maine to Texas will be voted on today by members of the International Longshoremen's Association. If approved during voting from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., the new contracts will replace those that expired at midnight Monday.
Local ILA leaders met with many of the port's 2,000 longshoremen at 7 p.m. Tuesday in a mass meeting at Scope to outline the labor deal. The meeting was closed to the public.
In an interview, however, the ILA's vice president in Norfolk, Edward L. Brown, predicted members would approve the contracts. ``This is one of the best contracts we've ever negotiated,'' he said. ``It's like every other contract. It doesn't have everything that either side would have liked to win, but it's a good contract. . . . Our members will be some of the best paid workers with unmatched benefits.''
``It's a win-win,'' said Roger Giesinger, president and chief negotiator for the Hampton Roads Shipping Association, which represents the region's terminals, shipping lines and other employers of ILA labor.
``In negotiations, everybody tries to get what they can get,'' Giesinger said. ``The overall feeling is this is a very good contract for the ILA and it's a very good contract for management to go forth and market for more cargo.''
ILA labor negotiations occur on two levels, coastwide and local.
A coastwide, or master, contract was agreed to Sept. 18 between ILA leaders and management representatives of ports from Maine to Texas. That contract covers issues such as wages for container handling, work gang size and health care.
Under the five-year master contract, management is giving raises in exchange for a reduction in the container gang size. ILA members would get raises of $2 an hour in the first year and $1 an hour in the third and fifth years. They currently earn $15, $20 or $21 an hour depending on when they became ILA members.
In exchange, the ILA agreed to gradually reduce the container gang size to 15 from 18 men.
The master contract also calls for the creation of a managed health care program for ILA members and their dependents to replace a more traditional insurance plan.
The local contract concluded Tuesday covers issues such as guaranteed income and the wages for handling break-bulk cargos like cocoa beans. Neither Brown nor Giesinger would release any details of that deal. by CNB