Big Nick’s Pizza is among hometown businesses supporting the ILWU. (Photo: Chuck Bennett)

Many of San Pedro’s stores and restaurants support the ILWU’s battle with terminal automation. (Photo: Chuck Bennett)

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John Bagakis of Big Nick’s Pizza said union business helps support many community endeavors such as his sponsorship of a Little League team. (Photo: Chuck Bennett)

Many businesses in San Pedro have posted fliers in windows in support of the ILWU. (Photo: Chuck Bennett)



Gary Herrera learned the value of hard work early in life.

Growing up in San Pedro, he delivered newspapers and was a busboy at a local restaurant. Later, he took a job as a box boy at McCowan’s Market, a family-owned operation no longer in business.

Now, the 45-year-old vice president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s Local 13 finds himself at the forefront in the next epic battle on the waterfront: The push to automate terminal operations that could cost thousands of dock worker jobs.

Cargo handling isn’t the only sector being hit by the onset of automation — where machines and robots take over tasks once done by people.

“This movement has become way bigger than the ILWU,” Herrera said.

From self-serve checkout stands to the recent debut of Walmart shelf-scanning robots, technology is changing the labor market.

And on the docks of Los Angeles and Long Beach this spring, it’s coalesced around automation efforts at what is North America’s largest cargo terminal. If allowed to move forward, the APM Terminal would move to bring in unmanned, yard cranes already used at two other terminals in the twin port complex.

A vote is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 16, when the Board of Los Angeles Harbor Commissioners will rule on the union’s appeal of a standard permit for the APM Terminal, occupied by Maersk, on Pier 400.

Herrera said it’s not clear how the vote will go.

“I think it’s 2-2,” he said, with the leanings of a fifth commissioner less clear than the other four panel members.

But Herrera did predict there could be an even larger crowd than last month’s estimated 2,000 or so attendees. The meeting will be held in the gray-domed baggage handling facility in the parking lot just north of the Battleship Iowa, at First Street and Harbor Boulevard.

Should commissioners support the issuance of the permit, Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino has signaled he will take the matter to the full City Council for reversal.

But the fight won’t end there. Most observers believe the issue will ultimately go to court for a final ruling.

The intense opposition from the union came as a surprise to some, who noted that agreements over terminal automation were included in both the 2002 and 2008 labor contracts.

The most recent agreement included significant gains for union workers by way of a pension increase, guarantees of a 40-hour for week for all registered dockworkers and assurances that workers will be involved in maintenance and repair work for terminal equipment.

For employers, the contract deal allowed for automation of terminals, which could lead the way for workers to be replaced by machinery. Both sides signed off on the contract, which remains in place until 2022.

Two terminals in the twin port complex — TraPac in Los Angeles and Long Beach Container Terminal in Long Beach — are currently automated.

Terminal operators say automation is safer, more efficient and helps the ports meet environmental goals.

The union and its supporters say employers’ goal is to cut back on the costs of hiring workers.