JUDGE TELLS PMA, ILWU TO ôBE RESPONSIVEö TO JUSTICE CONCERNS
U.S. District Judge William Alsup has told representatives of the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore & Warehouse Union to “be responsive” to concerns raised by the U.S. Justice Department in a review held in court Nov. 14 of the two sides' adherence to the Taft-Hartley injunction issued by Alsup in October.
The Justice Department's review found areas of concern for lack of productivity in the West Coast ports since the PMA's 12-day lockout was ended, but was 'not able to determine at this time that either party has engaged in improper conduct of sufficient scope or effect as to warrant a recommendation that the Court impose a penalty for contempt.”
The Justice Department said it would “be contacting both the PMA and the ILWU in order to resolve (these) issues.”
Justice said that since the injunction, “the parties have continued to negotiate with the assistance of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service,' and reached agreement on technology issues, considered the key stumbling block in negotiations.
However, Justice said it had 'received allegations' from the PMA and ILWU against each other, claiming non-compliance with the preliminary injunction.
“It is apparent that there has been an appreciable drop in productivity at several of the West Coast ports. Specifically, the United States has received credible reports that the ILWU has continued to encourage union members to ‘work to rule’ under the previous collective bargaining agreement, and that this is also a contributing factor to the loss of productivity at the ports.” Despite the injunction, “it appears that some conduct of this nature has continued,” the Justice Department said, noting it is “continuing to investigate and review this matter and reserves the right to seek further relief from this court, as appropriate.”
The status report also said, “some foreign carriers, many of whom are members of the PMA, discharged all their U.S.-bound containers at their first port of call, usually Los Angeles/Long Beach, rather than continue on to another scheduled port and wait at anchor for a berth. The result has been a buildup of container cargoes, with some terminal yards being ‘jammed’ with containers.” Such congestion “may be a contributing factor to the loss of productivity at ports,” the Justice status brief said.
“Finally, it appears that a number of informal arrangements previously honored by the PMA and ILWU, such as the use of ‘steadys’, or regularly assigned workers to a particular job, are no longer being followed, and this is a further factor to the loss of productivity at the ports.”
During the hearing, Justice Department representatives orally expressed specific concerns about lingering problems at the ports of Oakland, Portland, Tacoma and Seattle.