Longshore labor

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.

Meanwhile, West Coast ports continued to whittle away at the backlog of vessels and containers that had accumulated over the Thanksgiving weekend.

The U.S. trucking industry is committing to hire 100,000 military veterans over the next two years to fight a shortage of truck drivers as the military begins to reduce the number of active service members.

Containers continued to pile up at U.S. West Coast ports over the Thanksgiving weekend as negotiators for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association met separately today to prepare for face-to-face negotiations on Tuesday.

The International Longshoremen’s Association has appointed a trustee to temporarily oversee its largest Baltimore local, a move that could help resolve a local contract dispute that led to a three-day strike in October 2013.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association are meeting independently today to consider various issues that have been raised in contract negotiations, although they remain ready to reconvene face-to-face talks in advance of the Thanksgiving holiday if necessary.

Congestion at West Coast ports could get slightly worse over the Thanksgiving weekend as longshoremen and employers take time off to celebrate the holiday.

The International Transport Workers' Federation is battling with the Panama Canal Authority, accusing the PCA of trying to shut down a tugboat captains' union in advance of the canal's expansion.

U.S. shippers dependent on congested ports face a tough year ahead, FTR Associates says. But that doesn't mean 2015 will be easy — or cheap — for anyone shipping freight in the U.S.

The inability of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association to achieve consensus in the contract negotiations that began more than six months ago was demonstrated once again today with parties disagreeing over the current status of the talks.

U.S. retailers today expressed their disappointment that coastwide U.S. West Coast port labor talks won’t begin until early December and reiterated their call for President Obama to get involved.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association will not have a contract settlement until December at the earliest because the ILWU is suspending negotiations on coastwide issues until Dec. 2, according to the employers’ organization.

The Pacific Maritime Association said work slowdowns continued in the northern ports, while the International Longshore and Warehouse Union was not dispatching sufficient skilled labor to handle cargo volumes in Los Angeles-Long Beach.

Representatives of global dockworkers’ unions pledged “active solidarity” to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and questioned the Pacific Maritime Association’s willingness to reach a contract with the U.S. West Coast union.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union is still slowing down cargo-handling operations at all major West Coast Coast gateways while negotiations for a new contract continue in San Francisco, the Pacific Maritime Association said Monday.

West Coast ports are preparing for a busy weekend, with dozens of vessels scheduled to arrive over the next three days.

The Pacific Maritime Association today called upon the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to immediately agree to a temporary contract extension in order to end job actions in Los Angeles-Long Beach and Seattle-Tacoma.

Road and city drivers at a FedEx Freight terminal in Newark, N.J., voted against joining the Teamsters union — the second victory for FedEx Freight in four elections.

The tinderbox that is West Coast ports caught fire again today when members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union shut down the SSA Marine terminal at the Port of Oakland.

Fearing that gridlock at the largest U.S. port complex is imminent, the Pacific Maritime Association today blasted the International Longshore and Warehouse Union for withholding skilled labor at Los Angeles-Long Beach.

The Port of Portland is issuing a challenge to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association: Revamp the collective bargaining model that has been in existence at West Coast ports for the past 80 years because it isn’t working.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union late Monday rejected accusations that they were engaging in a concerted effort to slow down cargo-handling operations at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, saying waterfront employers’ charges are a “bold-faced lie.”

The American Apparel & Footwear Association urged the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to press negotiators to agree on a West Coast longshore labor contract to help end “untenable congestion” at the ports.