Union leader says restricted night operations amount to a “mini lockout.”
Thousands of longshoremen and their supporters participated in rallies in Los Angeles and Tacoma Thursday night as contract negotiations between their union and employers have entered into their ninth month.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association have been meeting since May 2014 to forge a contract to replace the one that expired on July 1 last year.
Bobby Olvera, president of ILWU Local 13, emphasized the union’s ties to near-port communities such as San Pedro and Wilmington. (There are videos and and and a report about the demonstration at the Long Beach Press Telegram website.)
L.A. City Councilman Joe Buscaino, who helped organize the rally, claimed on his Facebook page that 6,000 people participated in the San Pedro event.
Olvera told the crowd that the PMA “think they are going to break us. That is the message they sent to our negotiating team.”
He said employers have “locked us out at nighttime. That is what it is, a mini-lockout They thought they would hit us in our pocketbooks and that we would crumble, and that I would come to them on my hands and knees and say ‘Local 13 can’t handle it, we can’t do anymore.’ You know what I told them?” Olvera then raised his middle finger.
PMA eliminated ship-to-shore crane operations at night earlier this month, saying it did not make sense to bring additional containers into already congested terminals. PMA said the union has not been dispatching the qualified employees it needs to clear containers inside its members’ terminals.
The ILWU has accused PMA of “deception” in a video posted on its website that the union says shows there is room at terminals to receive containers.
Members of the union leadership participating in the bargaining with PMA told the crowd the union is in “very, very challenging negotiations. The employers think that you are getting weak.”
“We need to send a message to the employers that you will last as long as you need to to support your negotiating committee and help us get the contract we all want,” they said.
The News Tribune of Tacoma reported “a couple hundred longshoremen in safety vests and hard hats filled Tollefson Plaza in downtown Tacoma on Thursday in a show of union solidarity.”
PMA said in a statement Thursday that “nearly three months ago, the ILWU began a coordinated series of slowdowns intended to pressure employers to make concessions at the bargaining table. Ever since, PMA and its members have worked hard to counter the growing backlog of cargo that threatens to bring our ports to gridlock.
“Despite ILWU rhetoric, there was no significant congestion in Tacoma, Seattle or Oakland prior to their slowdowns, which began on Halloween night in Tacoma and at other major ports the following week.
“In Southern California, the ILWU’s targeted slowdowns have severely worsened existing congestion by withholding the skilled workers who are most essential to clearing crowded terminals. All the while, cargo sits idle, the economic damage to our communities worsens and the reputation of West Coast ports is harmed. PMA renews its call for normal operations on the docks while we continue to negotiate a new contract,” the employers’ group said.
Dean McGrath, president of ILWU Local 23 in Tacoma, said since before Christmas terminals at the Port of Tacoma have shut down two of three shifts, worsening congestion.
In addition, he noted there were several days last year where workers were “fired” — sent home for the day — which helped back up traffic.
“Usually when you have congestion… you add night gates,” McGrath said.
But PMA said in November that slowdowns in Seattle and Tacoma had resulted
in terminal productivity being reduced by an average of 40 to 60
percent.
McGrath said there are about 1,000 registered longshoremen with regular jobs and 350 casuals. He added the casual workforce has high turnover with over half not remaining for more than four years because workers can’t make a predictable income.
He said the union has asked PMA to replace 65 workers who retired or advanced and, since 2013, have requested that hundreds of positions be added to handle increased workload at the Port of Tacoma.
As to the charges of a slowdown, McGrath said “this local has been working tirelessly for solutions to congestion without much appreciation or help.”
Noting the dangers of dockwork and increased cargo volumes and congestion, he said, “I can see members being frustrated. Not only are we not recognized for trying to help, we can’t even get a contract anymore. Why would the worker continue to put their life on the line to move record numbers of cargo, which has happened this year, with a slap in the face and the appreciation being we are going to find ways to get rid of your jobs?”
Olvera has also said there is a need to add more registered longshoremen in Southern California. He explained at a forum in October at Long Beach that “it has been seven years since we hired new workers in the port. There are a thousand people that we have lost and failed to train,” referencing to workers who had retired or left the industry.
Meanwhile, the Marine Exchange of Southern California said Friday morning at 7 a.m. there were 19 ships anchored outside the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, including 17 containerships waiting to come to berth.
Eric Butler, executive vice president at Union Pacific, said in a telephone call with securities analysts that shippers moving cargo through West Coast ports are “trying to identify options to protect their supply chain and you see that, for example, right now with growth into Oakland or shippers trying to get into Oakland which is part of our franchise also. Long term the port of L.A., Long Beach, is in a sweet spot in terms of the connectivity with the rail network, our network, our competitor network. Long term the expectation is once these things are behind that will be the preferred option for shippers.”
ILWU rallies members
