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Employers of dockworkers have won a crucial decision from a federal arbitrator in a dispute that threatened to raise labor costs in the port of Baltimore.In another development affecting the costs of doing business in the port, a Public Service Commission hearing examiner has said that the Maryland Bay Pilots can raise their rates about 20 percent over three years. The pilots originally requested a 33 percent increase over three years.In a ruling dated Aug. 27, arbitrator Jerome H. Ross rejected a complaint by Local 333 of the International Longshoremen's Association that employers have unfairly distributed work among work gangs in the port in a manner that prevented many workers from qualifying for the guaranteed annual income program, which pays benefits to underemployed dockworkers.

The strike by clerical dockworkers in Baltimore ended last night, but the director of the Maryland Port Administration sharply criticized the settlement as a threat to the ability of the port to compete.The 430 clerks are expected to return to work this morning, and the port should resume normal operations. Still, Brendan W. O'Malley, executive director of the MPA, panned the new contract, saying it granted too many new jobs to the clerks, who handle the paperwork for loading and unloading cargo.

The unwillingness of longshoremen in Hampton Roads, Va., to work unlimited late-night shifts should help the port of Baltimore retain the business of Maersk Line, Maurice C. Byan, president of the Steamship Trade Association of Baltimore Inc. said yesterday.Baltimore's ability to offer steamship lines unlimited midnight starts gives the port "a leg up on Hampton Roads," Mr. Byan said.Under the local contract that went into effect in Hampton Roads late last year, only four midnight shifts are permitted in the Virginia ports per month.

Internal Revenue Service agents seized financial, phone and business records this week associated with leading Baltimore bail bondsmen Milton Tillman Jr. and his son, Milton Tillman III, including records from a longshoremen's union at the Dundalk Marine Terminal, according to sources close to the investigation. One of the seven buildings searched Monday is owned by Ioannis "Crazy John" Kafouros, a federal fugitive and convicted stolen-goods dealer, and his wife, Diana. Kafouros was last seen a decade ago in the Greek isles.

The agreement yesterday afternoon between port management and the union clerks ended a two-day job action that marked the first time in a decade that members of one longshoremen's local had refused to honor another's strike.But few ships were diverted from Baltimore because of the strike, and shipping officials said they suffered minimal economic damage as few containers were left stranded on the piers. More difficult to gauge was the long-term impact on the port's reputation of yet another dockworkers strike in Baltimore.

BALTIMORE'S PORT finds itself at a critical juncture today as dockworkers vote on a new contract. A second rejection could severely damage the maritime industry here, threatening the rTC livelihoods of 80,000 Marylanders whose incomes depend on a healthy port.It isn't an easy choice for members of the International Longshoremen's Association. They are being asked to give up their Guaranteed Annual Income program, an expensive and hard-won concession that ensures paychecks for some members regardless of whether they work.

Leaders of three Longshoremen's locals think they might have enough votes to win approval for a key contract with the port of Baltimore's largest shipping line, possibly paving the way for the development of a new cargo hub in the city. The news comes one week after members of Local 333 of the International Longshoremen's Association voted 235-189 to reject the contract addendum, leaving port officials worried that Scandinavian steamship company Wallenius Wilhelmsen Lines might reject Baltimore as the site of its proposed East Coast cargo hub. Members of Local 1429 of the ILA will vote today to decide whether to accept work rule changes requested by Wallenius Wilhelmsen, which has made the union concessions a cornerstone of its proposed expansion in Baltimore.

In a rare move, dockworkers at the port of Baltimore will decide tonight whether they should bend long-held work rules in an effort to cut costs and preserve cargo shipments that otherwise are certain to shift to Philadelphia.The vote was called after the president of International Longshoremen's Association Local 333 agreed to reduce the size of the work gangs scheduled to unload a shipment of 7,800 tons of steel, due here Tuesday from Antwerp, Belgium.Tonight's meeting will determine if union members will consent to continue the practice with the Dutch steamship company bringing in the steel.

More than a year after it pulled out of North Locust Point Marine Terminal complaining that costs were too high, Cooper/T. Smith Inc., a nationally prominent stevedore, will return to Baltimore with a better deal from labor and the state.The Mobile, Ala.-based company began operations here in 1994, but two years later told the Maryland Port Administration that it would not renew its contract to operate the state-owned terminal and hire longshoremen to load and unload ships.North Locust Point is used primarily to handle steel, a commodity the MPA has targeted in its strategic plan to lure new cargo.

In a move that could ease the growing cutthroat competition among North Atlantic ports, the president of the International Longshoremen's Association says he will seek a uniform labor rate for handling break bulk cargo in the North Atlantic ports.John W. Bowers, head of the 65,000-member union, said yesterday that he will make the proposal in September to local ILA leaders when they meet in New York to resolve terms of a new three-year master contract governing wages and other benefits.Since the early 1970s, the hourly labor rate for moving containers has been set through a master contract covering longshoremen from Maine to Texas, but the rate for handling break bulk, such as steel and fruit, is determined by ILA locals from port to port.