ILWU, PMA to discuss contract extension

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association said exploratory contact extension talks are tentatively set for Nov. 1-2.

   The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which represents the ILWU’s employers, said they have “agreed to discuss the concept of a contract extension.”
   The talks have been tentatively scheduled for Nov. 1-2.
   The current contract covers about 20,000 members of the ILWU Longshore Division who work at 29 West Coast ports and expires on July 1, 2019.
   Last month, a group of 128 trade organizations representing shippers and transportation organizations joined together to urge the ILWU and PMA to begin early contract talks. “We applaud your organizations for considering an extension of the current contract. However, we now call upon you to agree to the requests and begin the negotiations,” they said in a letter sent Aug. 8 to ILWU President Robert McEllrath and PMA Chairman and CEO James McKenna.
    The letter was signed by manufacturers, farmers and agribusinesses, wholesalers, retailers, importers, exporters, distributors, transportation and logistics providers, and other supply chain stakeholders. Shipper groups that signed the letter included the Agriculture Transportation Coalition, the National Retail Federation, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, while transportation groups that signed it included the American Trucking Associations and the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America.
   On Aug. 11, ILWU delegates voted to have the union enter into discussions with representatives of the Pacific Maritime Association to discuss a contract extension.
   Negotiations for the current contract began March 12, 2014 and continued
for nearly a year until February 20, 2015 when a deal was finally
reached. During those fractious negotiations, employers accused
the union of slowdowns and the union accused employers of withholding
labor and shortening hours. Cargo at the docks and dozens of ships were
moored off the West Coast, waiting to come to berth so they could
discharge and load cargo. It was not until May 22, 2015 that
the contract was finally ratified by ILWU members, nearly a year after
the prior contract had expired.