Longshore labor

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.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union is engaging in work slowdown actions at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, waterfront employers say, raising fears that the tactics could spread to Los Angeles-Long Beach, the nation’s largest container gateway.

International Longshoremen’s Association President Harold Daggett called the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor an “evil empire,” and said the bistate crime watchdog agency should be abolished.

More than 100 national, state and local organizations have signed a letter urging a speedy agreement on a West Coast port labor contract “to allay growing concerns of thousands of businesses” that rely on the ports.

Congestion-caused delays at the largest U.S. port complex are pushing up outbound spot market truck rates from the Los Angeles-Long Beach market to inland distribution points.

Events on the U.S. West Coast dominated on JOC.com this past week, as labor negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association could finally be heating up. Five of the Top 10 stories on JOC.com in the past week focused on the issue.

Dockworkers in Los Angeles-Long Beach are making the already terrible congestion problems at marine terminals insufferable by pulling trucks over and requiring inspections that reportedly go far beyond the normal safety procedures.

Dragged-out negotiations for a new West Coast longshore contract are adding to congestion and delays at ports and threatening supply chains for holiday-season goods, the National Retailers Federation warned.

A former president of International Longshoremen’s Association 1235 in Newark, New Jersey, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for extorting his members for “Christmas tribute” payments to the Genovese crime family.

Retailers today bemoan the fact that the ILWU and Pacific Maritime Association negotiations have dragged on for more than four months still without conclusion. But they may not recall that it took the ILA and the U.S. Maritime Alliance 13 months to finalize their current contract in April 2013.

Negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association will likely conclude without a strike or lockout, former Maersk port executive Tony Scioscia told the IANA conference in Long Beach this week.

Having reached a tentative agreement Aug. 26 on the crucial issue of medical benefits, negotiators for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association have spent the past month discussing operational issues at marine terminals.

New York-New Jersey port employers and the International Longshoremen’s Association said they will appeal a federal judge’s dismissal of their lawsuit challenging new hiring rules set by the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor.

Ports on the U.S. East and Gulf coasts and in British Columbia continue to benefit from unsettled longshore labor negotiations on the U.S. West Coast.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s two-year battle with grain terminals over a new contract in the Pacific Northwest highlights the major differences between contract negotiations in the bulk cargo sector and negotiations in the container shipping industry.

Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union ratified a new collective bargaining agreement with grain handlers in the Pacific Northwest, ending a two-year battle between the two parties.

Despite the lack of a new West Coast labor contract two months after the expiration of the last agreement, the threat of work stoppages to peak-season merchandise is rapidly receding, according to a retail industry consultant.

A federal judge has dismissed an employer-union lawsuit challenging the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor’s new rules for hiring dockworkers in the Port of New York and New Jersey.

The agreement reached late Tuesday pertaining to health care was the latest and clearest indication that the 2014 West Coast longshore labor negotiations are playing out in a way no one expected: They are peaceful.