Longshore labor

Harold J. Daggett, who led negotiations for the International Longshoremen’s Association that forged the six-year master contract banning automated terminals from ports on the East and Gulf coasts, was re-elected as the union’s head at its convention Thursday.

A tentative agreement between ILWU Local 13 and APM Terminals assures that dockworkers will be re-skilled or up-skilled for the jobs of the future created by automation.

Three months after a federal court voided the 2018 results of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union’s election of top officers, the union is still awaiting instructions for holding a new election.

The vote, following more than four hours of heated and oft-raucous debate on Wednesday, is more symbolic than impactful

ILWU Canada overwhelmingly approved a new contract for the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, which should guarantee labor peace pending approval from the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association.

The Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor has the authority to issue subpoenas to members of the International Longshoremen’s Association in connection with a 2016 wildcat strike, a federal appellate court has ruled.

Operations at the Port of Vancouver will resume at 4:30 p.m. local time thanks to a tentative new labor agreement between the BCMEA and ILWU Canada.

Negotiations have resumed between the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) and ILWU Canada, but dockworkers at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert could still be locked out at 8 am Thursday morning.

Waterfront employers have informed ILWU Canada they will be locked out of the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert at 8 a.m. Thursday if contract negotiations remain at a stalemate.

ILWU Canada has scaled down its threatened strike at Deltaport and Vanterm terminals in Vancouver to just a refusal to work overtime at those facilities.

A work stoppage at the two largest container terminals in Vancouver would be devastating for a port whose facilities are already operating at 85 percent utilization. In the terminal operating industry, 80 percent utilization is considered the limit before service begins to decline.

ILWU Canada voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if necessary, but the union and employers have agreed to continuing bargaining until at least the end of May in contract negotiations that have been under way since February 2018.

The Port of New York and New Jersey and other ports along the Gulf and East coasts are looking at how to reduce the cost and productivity loss that occurs when longshoremen hired for the weekend are unable to work due to vessel delays.

Longshore workers in Canada are turning up the heat on the employers’ association in Vancouver as negotiations that began in February 2018 still have not replaced the contract that expired more than a year ago.

Members of the Maritime Union of Australia and DP World Australia have agreed to return to the negotiating table to work on a new agreement on pay and working conditions.

The International Transport Workers’ Federation has joined the ILWU in urging Maersk to consider the social and economic impacts of its automated terminal project in Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles harbor commission has put plans to automate a portion of APM Terminals’ Pier 400 facility on hold, but the delay is likely just a temporary setback.

Members of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) at the ports of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Fremantle are protesting a DP World decision to cease providing workers with income protection insurance.

Harold Daggett, leader of the East and Gulf coast longshore labor union, is seeking a third term just over a year after striking a coastwide master contract with employers banning automated terminals.

US West Coast terminal operators see ILWU resistance to the deployment of automated yard equipment at APM Terminals Pier 400 in Los Angeles as an end-run around its own contract, which not only allows for automation but states dockworkers “will not interfere with implementation.”

Rising cargo volumes and retirements have prompted the Port of New York and New Jersey to hire more than 650 longshoremen and checkers.

The head of the ILA head vows production improvements as part of a union-USMX master contract that prohibited automation in East and Gulf coast ports

A general strike began Tuesday morning.

David Arian, a former international president of the ILWU and more recently Port of Los Angeles harbor commissioner, was a committed activist for workers’ rights and community causes. He died Wednesday at age 72.

Dockworkers across major public ports will join a two-day nationwide strike.

The agreement comes three-and-a-half months after ILA members on both coasts resoundingly ratified a six-year master agreement to replace the one that expired Sept. 30.

Workers resumed work only after the Bangladesh Land Port Authority (BLPA) assured them that it will pay their wages within a week.

Employers at the Port of New York and New Jersey plan to hire a substantial number of longshoremen for auto and cruise work, among other work needs.

Over the weekend, drivers protested at Alemoa, in front of the main road access to the port of Santos, and closed the main highway between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro for six hours, backing up truck traffic more than two kilometers (1.24 miles).

What triggered the walkout in the Baltimore terminal, which is operated by Ports America Chesapeake, is unclear, but the job action is a reminder that although the signing of the six-year master contract was seen as a harbinger of stability along the two coasts, disputes over local issues and actions can intervene.

The new ILWU president and his team are certified and now face the challenge of rebuilding the image of West Coast ports for labor reliability, as BCOs still remember the labor disruptions of 2002 and 2014-2015.

At issue is an effort by port employers to have deskbound longshoremen monitor the temperature of each reefer twice a day to ensure that it is at the correct temperature, instead of longshoremen physically walking up to each box, checking, and documenting the temperature on an iPad.

The International Longshoremen’s Association’s boycott of the 44th Congress of the International Transport Workers’ Federation, which begins Sunday, provides additional evidence that the introduction of further automation will not be a quick and simple process.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union declined comment, and there has been no public announcement on the details of the challenges, but the union’s constitution is clear on the multistep process that will unfold over the next two months.

Neither the employers nor the union are saying what contract terms are being negotiated, other than to say these are “normal contract issues," a maritime employers’ association official said.

The deal removes the need for a new contract — the biggest source of labor disruptions, on both East and Gulf coasts — until at least 2024. It parallels a labor deal for US West Coast ports lasting until 2022. Longshoremen backed that deal, a five-year extension of the last contract, in July 2017.

The union said the Ports of Delaware River Marine Trade Association's latest offer was unacceptable because it did not address three main staffing issues.

The deal, if approved by a majority of the International Longshoremen's Association members, would ensure labor peace on both East and Gulf coasts until at least 2024.

Western Washington members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302, are engaged in a contract dispute with a construction industry employer performing general construction work throughout the region.

The six-year deal contains good news for shippers concerning labor peace and the non-interruption of cargo. However, the deal is a setback for tech-driven and automation-driven efficiency improvements.