There were alot of questions that were never answered fully in the discussion and Q&A session. The first one that comes to mind was that back in the 60’s there was a modicum of trust between the leaders of the union and the leaders of PMA. Given how underhandedly that PMA has dealt with the union in recent years and the total lack of trust on our part toward them, how can we sign the same kind of good faith agreement that it takes to go blindly into a new era like they did back with the M&M agreement?
Secondly, PMA is obviously not talking about the same spirit of the M&M agreement where no matter where the advances took us, all the work would be done by ILWU members. Today, they want to farm the necessary work out to places like Salt Lake City and Singapore. Make no mistake, someone is doing the computer work and if PMA was willing for that to be us they could institute the changes they want right now under our current agreement. They want to take our work and give it to others. We must fight them every step of the way on that issue.
Roger M. Olson 53325
Local 63 (formerly 52)
