SHIPPERS, TERMINAL OPERATORS STILL UNSURE ABOUT ILWU STRIKE
Major transpacific shippers and U.S. West Coast terminal operators are still unsure about the likelihood of a port strike in June or July and how to prepare for it.
The current three-year contract, between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, expires July 1.
“Is there going to be a strike? I don’t have a clue,” Jack Suite, contract administrator at the Pacific Maritime Association told the Transpacific Maritime Conference in Long Beach, Calif.
Suite said that all the issues to be discussed between port employees and unions are “fixable things.” However, employers have made it clear that they are serious about obtaining productivity gains and fewer working restrictions from longshore labor in this year’s negotiation round.
“We will not flinch at the so-called hard-line stance that the employees are threatening us with,” said Ramon Ponce de Leon, president of ILWU Local 13.
Ponce de Leon accused port employers of trying to pass on the problems faced by ocean carriers onto the shoulders of labor.
“As rates continue to tumble, labor must not be utilized as a scapegoat,” he said.
The ILWU is prepared to discuss the possibility of operating and manning night gates at container terminals on the West Coast, but insisted on the union’s policy to protect its members’ jobs and benefits, Ponce de Leon added.
Neither the Pacific Maritime Association nor the ILWU would rule out the possibility of dock strikes.
There is a broad consensus among the industry that work slowdowns are near certain in the next few months, and shippers are also nervous about the disruptions caused by potential complete work stoppages. The port disruptions would happen shortly before the traditional transpacific peak season gets under way in the summer.
“I don’t know if there’s going to be a strike,” Robin Lanier, director of the West Coast Waterfront Coalition, told the conference. “But I know that, if you’re a shipper, you’re really worried that there may be a strike.”
The coalition, formed a year and a half ago, represents shippers and seeks to involve the end users of ports in the waterfront discussions. Lanier urged shippers to tell ocean carriers “that they care” about the PMA/ILWU contract.
Toys R Us, Nike and other major shippers are reviewing the situation and weighing their options. One of the big uncertainties faced by importers is whether the International Longshoremen’s Association would allow transpacific cargoes to be diverted to East Coast ports in event of West Coast labor actions. Another factor is how much cargo could be physically handled in the port of Vancouver, British Columbia, or Ensenada, Mexico, if ships have to be diverted away from U.S. West Coast ports. Volumes moving across West Coast docks vastly exceed container traffic that moves via Canada, Mexico and U.S. East Coast ports.
Union Pacific is already expecting shippers to bring imports early into the country, which will mean higher second-quarter volumes than usual.
Lanier urged shippers to write to their Congress representatives to sensitize them about the importance of potential West Coast port strikes. “It’s not enough to say President Bush will take care of this,” she stressed.
The West Coast Waterfront Coalition has also called on the PMA and ILWU to step up the pace of negotiations. Negotiations this time are complicated by the issue of introducing more modern technology and related manning and working practices.
The southern Californian ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which handle about three quarters of the containers moved by West Coast ports, will be the center of the conflict.