Ruling Keeps Status Quo in Strike by Port Pilots

A judge Friday handed Los Angeles city officials and a union of striking port pilots a split decision, declining to endorse the city’s position that the 21-day-old work stoppage is illegal, but extending a prohibition on picketing outside the harbor’s cargo terminals.

The ruling by Superior Court Commissioner Anita Rae Shapiro maintains the dispute’s status quo: The pilots can remain on strike, but the port can continue to operate practically as normal because, without terminal pickets, dockworkers have no reason to stay off the job. Shapiro originally ordered the pickets removed after the port was closed for the first four days of the job action out of concern for harbor safety.

In a separate action, a federal lawsuit against the union by the National Labor Relations Board was dismissed Friday. The NLRB withdrew its charges that the terminal pickets were illegal because of Shapiro’s ruling.

Since the terminal pickets were withdrawn two weeks ago, two management pilots and two strikebreakers have been moving vessels in and out of the harbor, allowing it to function at near-normal volume and speed.

After hearing arguments from both sides Friday morning, Shapiro ruled that the city attorney’s suggestions that the strike was illegal “are not well-taken.”

But she also expressed concern that another port shutdown would “result in inner and outer harbor congestion, which I think will be a major safety problem,” with vessel traffic threatening pleasure boaters.

“I think there’s just too great a chance there would be a safety problem,” Shapiro said in blocking the pickets at the terminals.

Earlier, union attorney Elizabeth Garfield had argued that public safety would only be jeopardized if the four working pilots rushed in juggling ship schedules normally handled by a dozen men, and noted that shipping companies could divert their vessels to other harbors to pick up or drop off cargo.

“There is no danger whatsoever unless the port creates a danger,” Garfield said. “If ships are delayed, is that a danger? If ships are put out to anchor, is that a danger? . . . All we’re talking about here is an economic loss.”

Ray Bender and Fred Merkin, attorneys for the city, tried to persuade the court commissioner to order the pilots back to work, insisting they were as vital to public safety as firefighters.

“There’s a safety problem inherent in this situation,” Merkin said after the ruling was issued. “The current setup is not as good as if they went back to work.”

Still, Merkin hailed the order as “good news.”

Garfield was also pleased with the result because the underlying question of the strike’s legality was left alone.

“It is our hope the city will now turn to the negotiations and instead of stalling . . . they will sit down and work out an agreement with us,” she said. “The city does not seem to be taking this very seriously.”

The two sides are scheduled to return to the bargaining table at noon today at the San Pedro Hilton.

Garfield and union members met for several hours Thursday evening with city negotiators at the hotel, but they discussed peripheral issues such as training, insurance and paid time off for taking tests or pursuing grievances, not the questions of salary and privatization that lie at the heart of the dispute.

Los Angeles is the only major commercial port in the nation in which pilots work for the government rather than a private contractor. In an effort to boost salaries beyond the current $113,172 or the $133,000 proposed by the city, the pilots’ union has suggested that the city hire a private firm to take over the operation.

But the pilots want the city to place various demands on that future contractor, including a $154,000 annual salary and a guarantee of employment and continued unionization, which city officials contend they cannot legally do.

City Administrative Officer Keith Comrie said he expected to receive a legal analysis of the privatization proposal Friday, and that officials would work on it over the weekend in hopes of soon returning to the bargaining table.

A meeting of the City Council’s labor relations committee is set for Monday.