Tag: Longshoremen

Longshoremen Reach A Deal

As was reported in the WSJ,

West Coast port operators reached a tentative deal with dockworkers on a new contract, thereby averting the risk of any further work disruptions at 29 ports in California, Oregon and Washington.

The two sides reached the agreement after what they labeled “a marathon weekend bargaining session.” The deal comes more than three weeks after the 26,000 dockworkers’ last contract expired July 1.

The deal will come as a relief to shippers who had watched with increasing worry as the dockworkers engaged in a series of work slowdowns in recent weeks at the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland.

The agreement is subject to ratification by both the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which represents the dockworkers, and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents terminal operators, ocean shippers and stevedores at the 29 ports.

In a press release late Monday, leaders from the two sides said they wouldn’t reveal details of the tentative six-year agreement for the time being.

If ratified, the agreement will avoid a repeat of what happened in 2002, the last time the union’s contract expired, when a negotiation impasse and a series of slowdowns at the docks eventually led to a 10-day lockout, snarling the nation’s supply chain and costing the economy billions of dollars.

Longshoremen Strike Again

Continuing disruptive labor actions by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are entering their third week and are now rolling to the Port of Oakland, the Pacific Maritime Association said.

Some terminals are reporting extreme productivity falloffs in the servicing of vessels over the last two weeks at the Southern California ports, the busiest container ports in the nation. Rather than heed the call to resume normal productivity levels in the ports, however, the Union leaders are expanding their actions against the ports to the Bay Area. Productivity levels in Oakland are off this week at an average of over 15% with falloff in some terminals over the last four days of as much as 40%. There is growing frustration that the ILWU is engaging in these deliberate job actions undermining productivity and the contract negotiations. Despite the slowdown tactics, the PMA has exercised extraordinary patience and continues to negotiate in good faith hoping to avoid disruption at the ports.

Over the last two weeks, more than a third of the vessels in southern California have had productivity drops of over 20%. More than one in ten have had productivity fall over 30%. This has resulted in disruption of schedules, with some vessels forced to sail leaving cargo and empty containers on the docks in order to maintain schedules.

Will Longshoremen Get A Deal?

As reported on Workers Independent News:

The 25,000 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union are still on the job as their union reps continue to negotiate a new labor agreement. The ILWU’s Craig Merrilees
Says a good agreement has been reached on health care and the union is continuing to bargain over other issues. He says the ILWU is determined to win continued good wages and benefits…

[Merrilees]: “This union is well-positioned and I would say unusually well-positioned to try and be a beacon for folks that are holding out against the tide. I mean, how many Americans can’t think about having the kind of health care and retirement benefits that longshore workers have, let alone the pay – starting pay of $22.11 an hour, moving up to a basic wage of $30.68.”

The ILWU for decades has been a strong, progressive union and an inspiration to workers nationwide.

[Merrilees2]: “If nothing else, perhaps we can act as a beacon of hope for workers who are feeling the heel of the capitalists that are really cranking down the ropes on folks.”