Longshore labor

U.S. West Coast waterfront employers overwhelmingly voted to ratify a five-year contract with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, bringing both sides one step closer to healing the wounds inflicted on shippers during months of congestion.

A former U.S. Labor Department chief economist is advocating placing unionized port labor under the Railway Labor Act to prevent showdowns with management such as the recent one that nearly crippled West Coast ports.

As truck driver pay moves up by double-digits, trucking operators need to look beyond a decades-old business model for new ways to attract, keep and satisfy drivers. Treating them better is step one, a trucking veteran says. Guaranteed salaries may be another.

The leader of the management group that negotiates with West Coast longshoremen said this week that the negotiating process that yielded months of disruption through February is “not sustainable.”

APT Terminals and a dockworkers union offer disputing views on the impact of a labor dispute at Peru's Port of Callao, a major maritime gateway on the West Coast of South America.

The arbitrator who became a key sticking point in labor negotiations on the U.S. West Coast earlier this year has filed suit against shipping companies and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

External contractors for Hongkong International Terminals have agreed to pay an above-inflation 5.5 percent increase in basic salary for dockworkers in the coming year, averting a threatened strike that would have heaped further misery on the struggling port.

Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said Wednesday Southern California port and political leaders are continuing a dialogue with the Obama administration to develop a plan that will ensure U.S. commerce will never again be crippled because of problems encountered during labor negotiations.

Nunzio LaGrasso, a former International Longshoremen’s Association official in New Jersey, was sentenced this week to state and federal prison terms for his role in an organized-crime scheme to extort money from union members.

Having won overwhelming support from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union caucus for the coastwide contract that was tentatively reached on Feb. 20 with the Pacific Maritime Association, employers and union leaders are stepping up their efforts to eliminate the backlog of vessels and containers that have built up at West Coast ports.

U.S. exports of beef, pork and lamb remained subdued in February due to labor disruptions on the West Coast, the strong dollar and market access barriers overseas.

U.S. West Coast shippers are taking a much-needed sigh of relief after International Longshore and Warehouse Union delegates voted in favor of recommending the tentative five-year agreement with waterfront employers to rank-and-file members.

Ninety International Longshore and Warehouse Union coastwide caucus delegates on Monday will open meetings in San Francisco that will determine the fate of U.S. West Coast ports for the next five years. The caucus will recommend approval or rejection of the tentative ILWU-Pacific Maritime Association contract.

If the leadership of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union is going to convince the union rank and file that the tentative contract agreement is a good deal for the general membership, the officers will have to fend off a concerted effort by militant members and retired members of the ILWU to jettison the deal.

Several dozen Baltimore dockworkers have filed a lawsuit challenging their national union’s takeover of their local chapter and dismissal of 500 new members before Wednesday’s referendum on a local contract.

The International Longshoremen’s Association and United States Maritime Alliance said they “strongly oppose” any attempt to place the longshore industry’s collective bargaining under the Railway Labor Act.

Nike had a strong winter in North America thanks to robust consumer demand, but it would have had an even better one were it not for the West Coast labor standoff.

The largest International Longshoremen’s Association local in Baltimore will vote again March 25 on a local contract agreement that union and employer representatives hope will end months of confusion and controversy at the port.

Lost-time injury incidents at West Coast ports in 2014 declined by almost half compared to the peak year of 2002, according to the annual safety report published by the Pacific Maritime Association.

A March 13 U.S. District Court decision in Portland that ordered the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to pay $60,000 to the National Labor Relations Board for engaging in illegal work slowdowns at the Port of Portland has not resulted in improved productivity at the Oregon port.

Putting waterfront labor under the Railway Labor Act will be a heavy legislative lift with a divided Congress and a union-friendly White House. And, it’s unclear if such a move would prevent “economic warfare” — whether from union slowdowns and the withholding of labor, or employers’ refusal to hire workers.

The tentative West Coast waterfront contract that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union will vote on next month includes plenty of perks for the union and could revolutionize how day-to-day disputes on the waterfront are adjudicated.

The threatened nationwide India port strike is off after the country’s shipping minister promised not to privatise major ports, enabling labor board officials and dockworker union leaders to reach a tentative agreement.

Speaking to more than 2,000 attendees at the 15th Annual TPM Conference this month, Matthew Shay, president of the National Retail Federation, called on Congress and the Obama administration to change how unionized port labor and waterfront employers negotiate agreements so “the interest of thousands” can no longer threaten the livelihood of millions.

Terminal operations up and down the West Coast were in start and stop mode this week in attempting to recover from the backlogs that built up during the tense longshore labor standoff that ended with a tentative agreement between labor and management on Feb. 20th.

The International Longshoremen’s Association said it will not undermine the International Longshore and Warehouse Union by seeking cargo diverted to East and Gulf Coast ports by the recent West Coast contract standoff.

Indian dockworker unions have tentatively agreed to defer a nationwide indefinite strike that was to begin March 9 by a week, setting the stage for negotiations between the stakeholders to reach a settlement.

An East Coast dockworker Wednesday shocked importers and exporters that use West Coast ports by saying something completely opposite of what they have experienced from West Coast longshoremen the past four months.

The International Longshoremen’s Association and United States Maritime Alliance plan to open discussions about a new, long-term contract more than three years before their current East and Gulf coast labor agreement expires.

Indian dockworker union leaders and officials from the Ministry of Shipping are expected to hold talks on Wednesday in New Delhi in an attempt to avert an indefinite industrial action planned to begin March 9 at major ports, including Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, the nation’s largest container handler, port sources in Mumbai said.

The third-ranking Senate Republican on Tuesday floated the idea of putting unionized port employees under the purview of the Railway Labor Act, a move proponents say would prevent longshore labor showdowns like those seen seen on the U.S West Coast in recent months.

Matthew Shay, president of the National Retail Federation, on Monday called on Congress and the Obama administration to change how unionized port labor and waterfront employers negotiate agreements so “the interest of thousands” can no longer threaten the livelihood of millions

The U.S. faces many challenging port issues but chief among them is a system of labor-management relations that fails to consider the interests of the ultimate customers, the chairman of Kuehne + Nagel told TPM 2015 in Long Beach on Monday.

The credit ratings of major West Coast ports will not be significantly impacted in the short to medium term by the cargo-handling disruptions that occurred during the protracted dockworker contract negotiations, but continued labor problems would cast the ports as unreliable, and would likely lead to permanent cargo diversion, Fitch Ratings stated Wednesday.

Rep. Janice Hahn, D-Calif., urged the Federal Maritime Commission to investigate the Pacific Maritime Association’s “unilateral” curtailing of night, weekends and holiday hiring of dockworkers during recent West Coast longshore contract negotiations.

Most West Coast ports were bustling with activity this week as marine terminals order full vessel, yard and gate work crews, and International Longshore and Warehouse Union dispatch halls are filling all of the orders.

Los Angeles-Long Beach will always be a vital U.S. gateway, but the nine-month labor dispute that helped bring West Coast ports to the brink of being shutdown is making shippers and industry analysts take a hard look at the trans-Pacific supply chain.