Economy

PMA/ILWU Negotiations Entering 8th Month

December 30, 2014

Negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association are entering their eighth month. Rhetoric between the two parties has heated up in the past few weeks with the PMA blaming the ILWU for the slowdowns and congestion at the Western ports and the ILWU blaming the carriers and accusing PMA member companies of “working behind the scenes to trigger labor disputes in order to cut labor costs and consolidate more control over workers on the docks.”

On Dec. 22 the PMA asked the federal government to mediate the negotiations.

At that time, PMA spokesman Wade Gates said, “After seven months of negotiations, we remain far apart on many issues. At the same time, the union continues its slowdowns, walk-offs and other actions that are having impacts on shippers, truck drivers and other local workers – with no end in sight. It is clear that the parties need outside assistance to bridge the substantial gap between us.”

According to the PMA press release on Dec. 22, “The union’s continued actions are creating long-term—even permanent—damage to the West Coast, hastening the continued loss in market share to ports on the U.S. East and Gulf coasts.”

On Monday, Dec. 29, the ILWU called for PMA member carriers sitting on PMA’s Board of Directors “to come to the negotiating table so that direct and constructive dialogue between key decision makers can take place.”

“Both sides need the right people in the room to get things finalized,” said Robert McEllrath, ILWU President and Chairman of the Union’s Negotiating Committee. “Sure, my counterpart, Jim McKenna, has been involved in negotiations from the start, but all the decisions are made by the carriers sitting on PMA’s Board of Directors.”

In its news release, the ILWU called attention to the “carrier-caused congestion crisis” at the West Coast ports. The ILWU enumerated the problems they see occurring at the ports:

• Carriers ceasing to provide chassis to move containers off the terminals.
• Carriers outsourcing their chassis pools to remote locations causing bottlenecks.
• Terminal operator’s hoarding limited chassis at the expense of competing terminal operators.
• Shippers and consignees using containers on chassis as mobile storage units – thus exasperating the chassis shortage.
• Carriers building new “mega-ships” with 14,000 plus containers that overwhelm terminal capacity and capability.
• Carriers increasingly entering noncompetitive alliances with each other and squeezing terminal operators and port authorities.
• Terminal operators and stevedores squeezing labor on traditionally negotiated jurisdiction in response to pressure from carriers.
• Truck driver shortages because the industry forces a piecemeal wage model.
• Tight intermodal rail capacity brought about from the political push of “energy” trains into an already squeezed rail infrastructure.

The PMA responded to Monday’s ILWU statement with another call for federal mediation and said “significant issues” still need to be resolved.

“The only major coast-wide issue on which we’ve reached tentative agreement is the health care plan – already one of the most generous in America,” said the PMA’s Dec. 29 statement.

The statement continued, “Given the lack of progress at the table, the ILWU’s continuation of debilitating work slowdowns and the impact those actions are having on businesses throughout America, it’s clear that mediation is required to resolve the many issues that remain at the bargaining table.”

The ILWU has been working without a contract since the last labor agreement expired on July 1, 2014. Click on the links above to read the statements from the ILWU and PMA in their entirety or visit their websites.