Longshore labor

Despite the involvement of a federal mediator in contract negotiations over the past week, West Coast dockworkers are continuing their policy of work slowdowns and the withholding of skilled labor, bringing West Coast ports to the brink of “complete gridlock,” the Pacific Maritime Association said Monday.

Importers and exporters who ship through the Port of Portland, Oregon, will experience higher costs next month because of work slowdowns by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

A new stage of contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association launched today as the negotiations moved under the auspices of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

Don’t expect any immediate negotiation breakthroughs when federal mediators wade into negotiations between the U.S. West Coast longshore union and waterfront employers, but a deal will likely be reached, according to two experts on labor negotiations.

After months of appeals from industry groups, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service this week became involved in West Coast contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association. Here’s a guide to the FMCS and its role in collective bargaining.

In a major breakthrough, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union on Monday agreed to federal mediation to resolve contract negotiations that are now in their eighth month.

Contract negotiations resumed today between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association after the holiday recess, but it appears that no significant progress will be made until both parties agree to compromise on the controversial issue of chassis maintenance and repair.

Two more U.S. West Coast newspapers have come out in support of a federal mediator to enter the stalled and increasingly acrimonious West Coast longshore negotiations, effectively siding with employers who have called for mediation.

The Pacific Maritime Association on Friday answered a public relations blitz by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union by releasing statistics that show that over the past two months the union has reduced by two-thirds the number of skilled equipment operators being dispatched each day at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association enter the weekend at a standoff at Los Angeles-Long Beach as employers plan to reduce the number of longshore crews that will be assigned to work vessels on the night shifts, a move the union says will significantly increase the number of days it takes to work vessels.

U.S. manufacturing growth slowed in December with continuing delays at West Coast ports being cited as a contributing factor, according to the Institute for Supply Management.

The Pacific Maritime Association launched a game of brinksmanship on New Year’s Eve, notifying the International Longshore and Warehouse Union at Los Angeles-Long Beach that beginning Friday, employers on night shifts will dispatch only one longshore crew to work each vessel, rather than three as has been the norm.

West Coast ports will enter the new year with the same congestion problems and labor uncertainty that plagued them for much of 2014.

The gloves have come off. If there is one issue that the Pacific Maritime Association know will undercut any possible sympathy the International Longshore and Warehouse Union would hope to have from the public, it is how much they make.

International Longshore and Warehouse Union President Robert McEllrath has challenged ocean carrier executives to become directly involved in contract negotiations in order to end the impasse that has existed since the previous West Coast waterfront contract expired on July 1.

West Coast newspaper editorials are jumping in on the side of federal mediators joining the stalled West Coast longshore talks, in a sign that public patience is wearing thin as losses mount for importers and exporters amid continuing delays at ports up and down the coast.

HONG KONG — The Austrlalian operations of DP World will face a tough start to the year after a series of bitter disputes in recent months with local trade unions over pay and working conditions at its four port facilities.

With the year coming to a close with no end in sight to the delays at West Coast ports, pressure is building for the federal government to intervene in stalled negotiations between longshoremen and employers that are blamed for at least of the congestion.

The U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service said today it’s reaching out to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to see whether it can help in labor talks with U.S. West Coast port employers, and if so, when it could aid.

As labor negotiations between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union heated up this week, JOC readers clamored for information on the topic.

Two former high-ranking International Longshoremen’s Association officials and a Genovese mobster pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy that included a three-decade scheme to extort dockworkers for “Christmas tribute” payoffs.

Contract negotiations continued Friday between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association. As has been the case since the negotiations began in May, neither side revealed any content from the talks.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association returned today to direct contract negotiations but didn’t release any report from the meeting.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union is engaged in a high-stakes game of work stoppages and slowdowns at the Port of Portland that is moving slowly but steadily toward a conclusion.

A U.S. District Court in Oregon ruled that the International Longshore and Warehouse in 2012-13 engaged in unlawful work slowdowns and stoppages at Terminal 6 at the Port of Portland.

Negotiators for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association will resume direct negotiations on Thursday, even as they disagree over the current state of the contract talks.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union today recessed the caucus that it opened on Monday as the union awaited a response from the Pacific Maritime Association on its latest contract proposal.

In a give-and-take effort that may push contract negotiations forward, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union is waiting for the Pacific Maritime Association to respond to its comments on the latest offer from U.S. West Coast employers.

This week's International Longshore and Warehouse Union caucus in San Francisco may or may not be the end to seven months of contract negotiation that has engulfed the West Coast in disruption and uncertainty.

International Longshoremen’s Association President Harold Daggett said the ILA won’t change its contract bargaining process, except possibly to try to reverse the order in which coastwide and local agreements are negotiated.

A second arbitrator has ruled that the no-strike clause in the coastwide master contract the International Longshoremen’s Association ratified last year applies even in ports where bargaining on supplementary local contracts remains incomplete.

Delays in receiving holiday sale inventory will likely affect fourth-quarter results of some shippers as they incur the added costs of diverting cargo and lost sales.

A former International Longshoremen’s Association local president and an ex-pier supervisor were sentenced to prison this week for their roles in a long-running extortion racket that funneled workers’ “Christmas tribute” to the mob.

David Adam, chief negotiator for U.S. East and Gulf Coast waterfront management, challenged employers and the International Longshoremen’s Association to consider changes to their bargaining process before their next contract expires in 2018.

Congress could greatly reduce the threat of labor slowdowns and lockouts at the nation’s ports by putting longshore worker labor agreements under the purview of the Railway Labor Act, an economist and former Congressional Budget Office director said.

Negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association were held on Sunday as the two parties completed a weekend of face-to-face talks.

Contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association were underway today and are expected to continue through Sunday as negotiators look ahead to the ILWU caucus that is scheduled for Dec. 15.

Contract negotiations were held Friday between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, and talks would most likely continue into the weekend, according to a PMA spokesman.

The heads of the two largest U.S. ports said it is time for President Obama to pressure the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association to end the contract impasse that is crippling West Coast ports and is threatening the nation’s economy.

U.S. West Coast contract negotiations could go one of two ways when the International Longshore and Warehouse Union convenes a caucus in San Francisco in the week beginning Dec. 15.