A drawing for coveted part-time dockworker jobs at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports was abruptly postponed Monday after union officials suddenly pulled out, apparently because of a problem in the handing of interest cards from applicants.
Tens of thousands of hopefuls submitted their names for the drawing, which will guarantee winners a freelance job as a “casual” longshore worker and the possibility of becoming a full-time union member raking in more than $100,000 a year.
But now the process negotiated by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and its employer, the Pacific Maritime Association, is in limbo.
Bobby Olvera Jr., president of ILWU Local 13, said in a text that the local, representing 7,000 dockworkers, decided to withdraw from the lottery after its membership “voted unanimously on Thursday night to pause the process until issues were addressed and resolved.”
Although he declined to specify what those issues were, he said they were serious and “presented by the union and summarily rejected by the PMA.”
“PMA and InterOptimis screwed up the process and violated the joint agreement,” he texted, referring to the Moorpark-based company handling the name drawing.
InterOptimis on Monday referred calls to the union. In a prepared statement, PMA spokesman Wade Gates called the union’s choice unfortunate.
But, he said, “The parties will meet in the grievance process to restart the casual draw.”
Union officials had expressed earlier concerns about problems with the once-in-a generation lottery for the nation’s most sought-after blue-collar jobs.
Local 13 Vice President Mondo Porras said last week he had received complaints that some of the submissions were returned from the post office.
Then on Friday, the ILWU posted a plea to their membership to report any problems with interest cards.
“It has come to the officers’ attention that many interest and replacement cards were returned to the senders by the U.S. post office in error,” the post said.
Union members and officials were issued those cards to pass on to relatives or friends who want to submit their name to the lottery. Interest cards help secure hopefuls a more favorable spot in the drawing.
For its part, the PMA said it wants to move forward with the lottery to help avoid a labor shortage at the docks.
“We are ready to move forward with the thousands of new hires needed to help keep cargo flowing through the Southern California ports,” Gates noted in the statement. “We look forward to working with the ILWU to begin the drawing soon to meet the labor needs of the West Coast waterfront.”
The spat between the union and PMA is not unusual, as the two have a long history of tense relations. In 2012, 2014 and 2015, labor strife hobbled trade at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports.
Monday’s drawing would have been the first time in more than a decade that port jobs became available to outsiders. The high-stakes drawing drew at least 80,000 applicants, according to the PMA.
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