Published: 6 Dec 2012
Four hundred and fifty office clerical workers ended their one-week strike to secure good jobs for working families in the harbor community by winning new protections that will help prevent jobs from being outsourced to Texas, Taiwan and beyond.
 |
|
| [Picture: Workers' from the local 63 on strike earlier this week] |
Tentative agreement on a new contract was reached between members of ILWU Local 63’s Office Clerical Unit (OCU) and 14 employers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
“This victory was accomplished because of support from the entire ILWU family of 10,000 members in the harbor community,” said ILWU International President Robert McEllrath who praised the unity and solidarity of members, their families and thousands of community supporters.
ILWU International Vice President Ray Familathe was assigned to help coordinate support for the clerical workers strike and assist them in the final negotiations: “Our campaign was always focused on securing good jobs and stopping the outsourcing that threatened working families in our harbor communities.”
ILWU Local 63-OCU President John Fageaux thanked union members for having the courage to stand up and strike against powerful employers in order to protect good jobs into the future. “This was a community effort that will benefit working families for many years to come.”
MUA National Secretary and ITF President, Paddy Crumlin hailed the workers imminent return to work as a big win for the global union movement:
"The victorious members of ILWU Local 63 now join a proud list of courageous workers who time and again must teach employers a fundamental lesson: when workers stick together to fight injustice, union busting and greed, we will always win. In this fight, the ILWU dockers’ and unions around the world built an unbreakable wall of solidarity. ITF dockers and seafarers, in particular, pledged their full support.
"We were inspired by the determination of Local 63 and knew that, with the combination of workers power on the ground and the global reach of maritime workers, the workers would win," added Crumlin.
