ILWU and IBU Rally at Harbor Commission to Save Jobs

ILWU & IBU Rally at Harbor Commission to Save Jobs

By Mark Friedman, Contributor

Scores of union members rallying in front of the Harbor Commission on Dec. 15, were joined by a dozen strikers of the University of California Los Angeles United Auto Workers. Inland Boatmen’s Union members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union have been on the picket lines at UCLA and UC San Diego as an act of solidarity. They have also been out to Moreno Valley to support the organizing drive of the Amazon Labor Union at the giant warehouses there.

“We’re going to fight for those jobs, even though the company will probably close the door on us, because these guys worked during the pandemic and they worked here for years,” John Skow, the regional director of the Inlandboatmen’s Union, told the protesters. “There’s a lot of experience here

Members of the ILWU and the Inlandboatmen’s Union protest in front of the Harbor Commission. Photo by Arturo Garcia-Ayala and they just want to throw them out into the street like a piece of garbage.”

Skow went on to say that the union wants their jobs back or for the company to find jobs for them at its other facilities.

“We are in for a fight because it is also about the pension plans,” Skow said. Newly elected LA city councilman for the 15th District, Tim McOsker, voiced concern at the commission hearing. “We need the port commission to enforce all the rules and to hang onto these great jobs and we stick with working families and the contracts that you have signed,” McO-

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[McOsker, from p. 1] McOsker

didate Danielle Sandoval to release a statement that called out the disrespect paid to the students and called for more leaders to do the same.

Sandoval said she was disheartened and appalled at the treatment of Harry Bridges marching band staff, coaches, and most of all the children who participated in the parade. The students and staff endured obscene comments and thrown projectiles during their performance as they marched down Pacific Avenue.

“It’s disgusting and those involved should be ashamed of themselves,” she said.

The next day, the board of directors of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce released a statement condemning the reported incidents of abuse and reported that it had apologized to the school administration and band director for the reported incidents and said it would apologize in person to the band and cheer team at a scheduled meeting.

McOsker made special note that though he won two-thirds of the vote throughout the district, he had to be mindful that there were still 35% of voters who didn’t want him to be their next council member.

A breakdown of the statement of votes cast shows that McOsker got 56% of the vote to Sandoval’s 31%. In all five communities, 10% to 15% of ballots cast included a vote for no one. This could be the result of voters choosing not to cast a ballot for either candidate or reflects spoilage from ballot marking mistakes.

Nevertheless, in communities where McOsker was weakest, such as Watts, Wilmington and Harbor Gateway, he more than made up the ground and won four of the five communities in CD15.

In fact, McOsker won by a couple of percentage points in Watts and lost by a couple of percentage points in Wilmington, while coming away with strong wins in Harbor City, Harbor Gateway, and by far, San Pedro, where he really did get twothirds of the vote to Sandoval’s 23%.

Still, if McOsker’s swearing-in ceremony speech were a jazz composition, he hit all the right notes. He expressed concern for equity and fairness in the delivery of services; charter reform to increase representation, prevent corruption and make government more transparent; do all in his power to address housing, from Section 8 voucher holders being more successfully paired with landlords, to achieving environmental justice and keeping good jobs; and pushing for better public safety and more sworn officers who are well trained and responsive.

In the weeks leading up to the Nov. 8 election, I told him my concerns about what his potential victory would mean. In reply, he told me to watch him and judge him by the work that he does. He’s not fully settled into office yet, but he’s off to a decent start.

New City Councilman Tim McOsker gives a speech at his swearing-in ceremony. Photo by Chris Villanueva

sker said.

Cris Sogliuzzo, a member of the Inland boatman’s Union, and an employee at Westoil Marine/Centerline Logistics, spoke on the union’s last communication with the employer.

“Westoil has now informed us that its other last customer is leaving the LA market,” Sogliuzzo said. “I believe that Leo Marine initially attempted to unlawfully recognize and assist a competing union that the employees there did not choose themselves, to service the customer base that was taken from us in early 2021 which we, the ‘Westoil’ IBU unit, have historically serviced for [the last] 25 years.”

Last year, Saltchuk Marine and Centerline Logistics, two large national marine transportation corporations, exchanged assets. The exchange upended scores of contracts worked by IBU, the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots, and the Sailors Union of the Pacific maritime workers while weakening the Southwest Marine Pension Trust.

The maritime unions charge that Saltchuk and Centerline used the asset exchange as an opportunity to replace longstanding contracts with the IBU and the MM&P with a substandard agreement with the company-friendly Seafarers International Union that undermines the standards for fair wages and benefits previously set by the IBU and MM&P collective bargaining agreements.

In December 2020, Saltchuk Marine announced that it acquired eight ship assist tugs owned by Centerline Logistics and operated in the Pacific Northwest and California. Centerline Logistics, in turn, purchased six bunker barges

[See IBU, p. 19]