ILWU-PMA Maintenance and Repair Training Center in the Port of Los Angeles opens
President Adams says the facility is just the beginning; ILWU will hold PMA to its promise for M&R training facilities in Oakland and Puget Sound/Columbia River
ILWU International Officers, Coast Committeemen, and officers from locals up and down the West Coast joined representatives from the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), and local officials for a ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 31 to mark the opening of the ILWU-PMA Maintenance and Repair (M&R) Up-skill/Re-skill training facility in Los Angeles.
Additional M&R training centers will be opened to serve Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. The centers are part of an agreement between the ILWU and the PMA to establish a program to train dockworkers in new skills to maintain and repair existing and emerging technologies.
The $16.4 million, 20,000-square-foot facility is located on 4 acres on Terminal Island. The property has a 10-year lease from the Port of Los Angeles. The facility includes space for classrooms, and hands-on training areas for equipment such as a Wiggins EV Heavy Forklift, column lifts, welding stations, a 16-foot jib crane, Stertil-Kone Mobile Column Lifts for handling large vehicles, and an air compressor with a 240-gallon tank.
The program will provide “re-skill” and “up-skill” programs for ILWU members including a mechanic up-skill program to train current ILWU mechanics and continue their technical education in maintaining and repairing current and future equipment, and a re-skill program to train longshore workers to become journeyman mechanics; it also will provide exposure to other mechanic roles workers could potentially pursue in a future training program.
Los Angeles Harbor Commissioner Diane Middleton spoke at the event and placed the training center in the context of the fight for ILWU jurisdiction on the waterfront.
“Believe it or not there was a time when there were questions whether mechanic work was ILWU work. I remember talking with David Arian about his vision that everything on the waterfront—top to bottom—would be organized by the ILWU,” Middleton said. “That vision has become a reality. This center will make it easier to train the workforce we need for the future. With new equipment coming online, there’s going to be a need for new skills and a newly trained workforce. This facility is going to help us do it.”
Commissioner Middleton also recognized the tenacity of Local 13 President Gary Herrera in making the center a reality. “Besides showing up, the other thing that matters in life is not giving up, always keeping your eyes on the prize, and knowing you’re going to get there, if you have the right team.”
“The men and women of the ILWU look forward to receiving training in a state-of-the-art facility such as this,” said Herrera. “Our agreement with the PMA is to ensure that we’re brought forward with ongoing technological changes in the industry. I’m excited for today. I’m excited for the ILWU’s future. We belong down here. We fight down here, and we provide for the community down here.”
ILWU International President Willie Adams said the training center in the Port of Los Angeles is just the beginning. He brought a copy of a Letter of Understanding agreed to by the PMA and Longshore Negotiating Committee to establish two other M&R training centers on the West Coast.
“It says here in this letter, that the PMA will have a M&R center in LA/Long Beach, that you’re going to do something in the Port of Oakland, and that you’re also going to do something in the Columbia River/Puget Sound. The officers and the rank and file will hold you to that commitment. The members of the ILWU deserve the best,” Adams said. “We must prepare the next generation of longshore workers. They must be able to upgrade their skills, to be the best workforce today and be prepared for the future.”
The first re-skill training program is slated to begin this summer and includes the fundamentals of electricity, taught in partnership with instructors from Los Angeles Unified School District’s Adult Education team.
