The Modernization of West Coast Longshore Work Rules

Although the problem of restrictive work rules and practices has been a chronic issue in labor-management relations, it has attained new interest and prominence in a variety of significant industries. Beyond the immediate issues in dispute, however, is the more important question of the capacity of our collective bargaining system to deal with the impact of rapid changes in technology. Several experimental approaches to the problem of accommodating workers' needs for job security and management's goal of ever increasing efficiency are under way, notably in meatpacking, steel, railroads, and the longshoring industry. Only the latter industry has thus far reached agreement on a new set of rules which are intended to accommodate the conflicting interests of management and workers, while in other industries the issues continue under study. A notable feature of the developments in West Coast longshoring is that agreement was reached without the aid of neutrals. While these developments have been described in more detail elsewhere, this article undertakes to analyze the factors that led to agreement and to appraise the general significance of this particular approach to the work rules problem. (Author's abstract courtesy EBSCO.)