Pacific Maritime Association says ILWU is refusing to dispatch dockworkers in Los Angeles, Long Beach.
The Pacific Maritime Association said Thursday afternoon that job actions by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union have spread from the Pacific Northwest to the Ports of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach.
The PMA, in the midst of contract talks with the ILWU, said the union is “unilaterally refusing to dispatch hundreds of qualified, skilled workers for critically important positions transporting containers in terminal yards at the nation’s largest port complex.”
PMA said that on short notice, the union told it starting Nov. 3, it would not dispatch qualified ILWU members, most of whom have significant experience operating yard cranes in the terminal, placing cargo containers on trucks and rail cars for delivery to customers.
“We’ve used the same dispatch procedures for qualified crane operators since 1999,” said PMA spokesperson Wade Gates. “After 15 years, the ILWU leadership has unilaterally decided to change the rules for hundreds of qualified workers who are dispatched daily to help operate terminals at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports.”
Craig Merrilees, communications director for the ILWU, indicated that problems at the terminals may be resulting from frustration by the union’s rank and file with the lack of progress in the negotiations and a feeling that the root causes of the congestion problem are being ignored. “We are focusing on the long-standing failure of the employers to address the long-standing congestion problems at the ports and the delay and blockading of the contract talks,” he said. “Worker frustration is understandably resulting from both those delays and congestion problems.”
Several sources suggested that ILWU members have worked so many hours in recent weeks that they have decided not to report for work; they could also be not reporting because they are trying to express dissatisfaction with the progress of the contract talks with the ILWU to replace the last contract, which expired July 1. The talks began May 15 despite requests by various shipper groups that the talks begin earlier.
Yesterday, terminals in the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach were supposed to be closed for a regular monthly meeting of ILWU workers. The Maritime Exchange of Southern California reported that there were 12 ships at anchor outside of the port on Friday morning at 7a.m.—six containerships, 4 dry bulk ships and two tankers.
PMA said “terminal congestion has been a mounting issue at Southern California port terminals due to a variety of factors, including a surge in cargo volume, shortage of chassis and rail cars, and insufficient numbers of truck drivers. Given these already congested conditions, the ILWU’s refusal to fill critical yard crane positions makes an already difficult situation far worse. Many of the qualified, skilled members the ILWU is withholding have more than 1,000 hours of experience operating this equipment. As a result, the PMA estimates that the ILWU’s withholding of skilled workers will leave half of the yard crane positions unfilled unless corrective actions are taken.”
The PMA said the ILWU actions “which have already crippled operations at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, now threaten to do the same in Los Angeles and Long Beach. Together, these four ports collectively handle nearly 80 percent of all containerized cargo at West Coast ports. The job actions began soon after a PMA offer responding to the ILWU’s demands during contract negotiations last week. “
The labor-orchestrated slowdowns come at a critical time in negotiations for a new coast-wide labor contract, and threaten to stem the flow of cargo during the final holiday season push, said PMA
“Although the existing congestion has had ripple effects throughout the supply chain, it is the ILWU slowdowns that now have the potential to bring the port complex to the brink of gridlock,” Gates said. “The ILWU’s orchestrated job actions are threatening the West Coast’s busiest ports and potentially billions of dollars in commerce. It is essential that the ILWU return to normal operations, as promised, so that we can continue meaningful negotiations in a productive environment free of union-staged slowdowns that are disrupting terminal operations at our largest ports.”
Negotiations for a new coast-wide contract covering nearly 13,600 registered workers began in May, with the goal of reaching an agreement by July. Once the contract expired on July 1, the parties agreed to continue negotiating.
“After six months of negotiations, during which a tentative agreement was reached on maintaining health benefits, the ILWU has resorted to its old playbook of slowdowns in order to leverage the employers at the bargaining table,” said Gates. “We were hopeful that the ILWU’s promises of normal cargo operations during negotiations would prove true — and until last week, they did. Now, they reneged on that agreement.”
In a statement issued Friday morning, the Port of Long Beach said it was “working to establish a more consistent supply of truck chassis and is coordinating with all stakeholders to solve the current congestion issues that have slowed some shipments.”
It said it is attempting to find a location “in the Harbor District to receive and temporarily store the empty containers that terminals may not have room for at this time. This allows truckers to use a chassis to carry a loaded container, rather than sit idle with an empty container.”
In the Pacific Northwest ports of Tacoma and Seattle, continuing slowdowns have resulted in terminal productivity being reduced by an average of 40-60 percent, said PMA. It said some terminals that typically move 25-35 containers per hour were moving only 10-18.
The PMA, representing carriers and terminal operators coast-wide, has informed the ILWU that its unilateral action to withhold qualified, skilled workers in Southern California is a violation of the parties’ contract. According to the terms of the ILWU-PMA contract, slowdowns are impermissible; jointly appointed arbitrators have repeatedly found in favor of employers during such disputes. Yet the ILWU has refused to agree to a contract extension — which would preserve the waterfront’s long-standing grievance procedures — thus frustrating employers’ efforts to return the ports to normal operations.
“Given the headwinds faced by our industry, and the declining market share of West Coast ports, further instability on the docks could lead to permanent losses of cargo and jobs,” Gates said. “Ultimately, despite our differences on the issues, the PMA and the ILWU both have an interest in preserving jobs on the docks and in our communities. It is time for us to show that we are serious about reaching agreement without putting jobs and our economy at risk.”
Agricultural shippers have been particularly outspoken about the damage that a port shutdown could have on their business, noting that the peak season for some of their commodities has arrived. One large exporter, who said he had a large shipment due to move through the Port of Oakland in the next couple of months, expressed concern about whether the slowdown might extend to that port.
The Agriculture Transportation Coalition, which has been distributing anonymous case studies of how its members are being affected by the slowdown or possible shutdown, said one shipper of perishable products told it that it ships “45-70 containers a weekthrough the Seattle/Tacoma port system. This currently represents, on average, about 25 percentof our business. The value of each container at dock Seattle/Tacoma is, on average, $10,000. If you add the oceanfreight to customer, the average value is $14,000-$16,000 CIF.
“This week,” the customer continued, “we have had to cancel/postpone about 30 containers. We have had two containers returned to us. We have incurred inland transit trucking charges for container freight that could not be delivered to the port and had to be returned to our facilities.”
The group said trucks are waiting for equipment at the port, only to be told after hours of waiting that equipment is not available and trucks waiting to drop loaded containers to the port are told by terminals will not receive cargo that day.
“Charges to us, the shipper/grower, from the truckers can be an additional $1,000 per container due to congestions resulting from the slowdown,” the group said. “We are having difficulty finding truck companies willing to deal with the hassles of the ports. They can use their equipment and drivers to run more profitable corridors.”
It noted that when products are inspected and prepared for export, there is a cost associated with changing plans and selling it to domestic customers. It said costs can run up to $500 a container depending on the product being shipped. The shippers said that “throughput at the ports has slowed downover the years and increased our dock-to-dock transit times by over 20 percent. What once was a 12-13 day transit to our Japanese customers is now over 16 days, with the increased time being spent at the docks in the Seattle/Tacoma ports.”
Employers say longshore job actions have spread to Southern California
