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Industry chief in West Coast dock lockout quits position

By J. Martin McOmber
Seattle Times business reporter

	Joe Miniace
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The resignation come 18 months after Miniace negotiated a landmark agreement with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) that allows new technology to be introduced at ports but does little to reduce the union's powerful influence on the waterfront.

The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which represents major shipping lines and terminal operators at ports from San Diego to Everett, tapped Chief Operating Officer Jim McKenna to replace Miniace.

A former vice president of Horizon Lines, McKenna joined the PMA last year after three decades in the shipping industry.

Miniace's style did little to ease tensions with the 10,500-member union leading up to the lockout in fall 2002, said Steve Stallone, an ILWU spokesman. The nearly two-week shutdown affected 29 ports in Washington, Oregon and California, stranding boatloads of consumer goods and agricultural products at sea and on shore.

"Joe was brought in to be the hard-liner, and he was confrontational from the beginning," Stallone said.

"He came in pounding his chest and saying he was going to show the longshore workers who was boss."

But in a written statement released yesterday, Miniace, whose career in labor relations included stints at Ryder System and Ford, said he considered himself an "agent of change" who helped usher in a new era at ports.

"The West Coast waterfront is positioned for substantial growth for a new generation, thanks to a contract that is enabling the introduction of long-needed technology," the statement said.

Getting there wasn't easy.

The main sticking point was the introduction of such technology as Global Positioning System satellite receivers to better track and manage the flow of cargo through ports. Negotiations stretched for months, and the PMA decided to lock out union members after complaining of intentional work slowdowns at ports.
 
President Bush ordered the ports to reopen and mandated an 80-day cooling-off period. The two sides reached an agreement shortly before the timeout was to expire.

The PMA won the right to modernize the waterfront. But the union, which won a pay raise and a generous benefits plan, came away with a guarantee that no jobs would be lost because of technology and that any jobs created by the technology would be union jobs.

"The contract has been a success," McKenna said. "Both parties got some fairly significant things out of it, and we have six years to really implement the contract itself."

Miniace, a former administrator and adjunct professor at New York University, said he plans to teach classes at a university in labor relations and to write.

J. Martin McOmber: 206-464-2022 or mmcomber@seattletimes.com

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