City Council to Ask Firm to Reconsider Labor Plans

With a labor dispute threatening to cause a one-day walkout at West Coast ports, the Los Angeles City Council on Friday agreed to ask Southern Pacific Transportation Co. to reconsider its plans to replace 340 longshoremen with other workers.

Last month, the railroad announced that it will not renew a contract with a harbor area company that employs International Longshoremen and Warehousemen Union workers to load port containers onto trains. The decision, Southern Pacific officials said, was based on poor performance by the company.

But ILWU officials have angrily disputed that contention, arguing that Southern Pacific is intent on displacing workers to increase its profits. Barring an agreement to retain the workers, the ILWU has planned a walkout at West Coast ports Feb. 17, the day after the contract expires.