Opening volleys: ILWU files complaint accusing PMA of unfair labor practices. (Ports/Intermodal).(International Longshore and Warehouse Union)(Brief Article)

Major-league ballplayers are limbering up in spring training, the Kentucky Derby prep races are being run, and West Coast waterfront employers and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union are warming up for their contract negotiations this year.

The negotiations won't start until April, but the presidents of the ILWU and the PMA have exchanged letters that stake out the two sides' primary goals -- technology and productivity for management, job security and jurisdiction for the union.

The correspondence -- or lack thereof -- also forms the basis of an unfair-labor-practices charge that the ILWU filed on Feb. 14 with the National Labor Relations Board. The ILWU is accusing management …