Bridges articulated the members’ fear of automation: “Machines when they came appeared as merciless monsters, more deadly by far than slack times, because jobs swallowed never came back, as one could hope would happen when slack times eased.” The machines in this case were container cranes, already in operation in ports elsewhere in the world. Their introduction would make West Coast ports more competitive, but at the cost of jobs. Debate among the members raged across the West Coast for two years before negotiations opened. The question boiled down to, “Do we want to stick with our present policy of guerilla resistance or do we want to attempt a more flexible policy in order to buy specific benefits in return?”

Union negotiators were sent into talks with a comprehensive list of objectives. They would authorize the introduction of new technologies in exchange for the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) guaranteeing the current workforce continued employment, no compromises on the pace of work or health and safety, and crucially, the transfer of a reasonable share of the cost savings gained through the new machines to the workers, through a special mechanization and modernization fund paid for by the PMA. This savings transfer bought strengthened pensions, lifetime medical benefits, and life insurance policies, as well as a lump-sum payment for early retirement. The members were to be provided with thirty-five hours work per week, or paid a handsome minimum income of $111.65 ($3.19 per hour).

Older workers would be able to retire from the hard physical labor of the docks at an earlier age, due to incentives that made sense to them and to the employer. Higher retirement pensions would initially cost the PMA more but would make room for younger, less expensive workers.

Both parties agreed that the union hiring hall and multiple-employer, coast-wide bargaining remained firm commitments. By 1960, the Mechanization and Modernization Agreement had been submitted to the members, ratified, and signed.