LOS ANGELES — The tentative agreement on new technology that was hailed as a breakthrough in the West Coast port contract talks could turn into a deal-breaker for management.

Sources inside the Pacific Maritime Association say the proposed agreement actually expands the jurisdiction of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union by giving labor, for the first time, authority over planning jobs at U.S. Pacific ports.

A faction of employers who strongly opposed the concession were out-voted by another group within the PMA, sources said. Employers who voted to approve the deal say the language in the agreement is broad enough to prevent the ILWU from automatically claiming jurisdiction over the work.

Both employer factions agree that the technology agreement places an extra burden on PMA negotiators to stand firm on one of the most important issues yet to be resolved in negotiations - revamping the grievance process to ensure that it is based on a neutral system of arbitration.

Local arbitrators in Los Angeles-Long Beach and Seattle-Tacoma, which control more than 80 percent of the cargo on the West Coast, in the past have been nominated by the ILWU and are usually former union officials.

Since contract talks began May 13, the PMA has pushed for the introduction of computer technology that will allow shipping lines to download cargo information directly to port terminals, and eliminate the jobs of hundreds of ILWU marine clerks who currently re-enter the information by hand.

Computers can also enable terminal operators to plan equipment moves in container yards and at on-dock rail lines by telling crane drivers and equipment operators which containers to pick up, in what sequence, and where to deliver the boxes.

These computerized systems have been operating at container terminals in Asia for years, where overcrowded conditions put a premium on getting containers in and out as quickly as possible. At West Coast ports, however, this is a slower and costlier process, since cargo data first must be processed by clerks, who on average earn $120,000 a year.

Some West Coast terminal operators have managed to incorporate new technology, but only after butting heads with union locals and enduring work slowdowns before they were able to reach an agreement.

The terms of the waterfront contract that expired on July 1 actually permitted terminal management to perform yard and rail planning work. So employers who in the past have handled planning operations themselves were shocked when a majority of their brethren approved the tentative technology agreement that will force them to relinquish those rights to the ILWU.

Sources also said those employers are incensed over contradictions in the technology agreement. They point out that the agreement calls for a free flow of information at marine terminals, but establishes a control center, staffed by ILWU marine clerks, to manage the free flow of information.

If PMA and ILWU negotiators resolve the remaining contract issues that include arbitration, pensions and wages, the technology agreement will take effect as part of a new waterfront contract. If the negotiations falter on any of the remaining issues, the technology agreement would fall apart.

Both sides have said that the technology agreement will cost the union about 400 jobs. After the tentative deal was announced last week, the ILWU said that it intends to press even harder for major concessions on the pensions and other remaining contract issues.

By Bill Mongelluzzo