Ongoing drama at U.S. West Coast labor talks: it gets worse

Sounding evermore bellicose, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) ramped up the rhetoric recently, alleging that U.S. West Coast port congestion is a consequence of carrier/terminal conspiracies.

While contract talks with the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) remain at an impasse, the ILWU is also demanding that carrier representatives sitting on PMA’s Board of Directors come to the negotiating table.

“Both sides need the right people in the room to get things finalized,” said Robert McEllrath, ILWU President and Chairman of the Union’s Negotiating Committee. “Sure, my counterpart, Jim McKenna, has been involved in negotiations from the start, but all the decisions are made by the carriers sitting on PMA’s Board of Directors.”

The PMA, which has been calling for a federal mediator to be brought in, insists that top leadership is already involved, and that the ILWU is creating a “smokescreen” to hide its deliberate lack of productivity.

“The only major coast-wide issue on which we’ve reached tentative agreement is the health care plan – already one of the most generous in America,” countered PMA spokesmen. “Even with the tentative health care agreement – identified by the ILWU as its #1 priority when negotiations began in May – the Union has engaged in debilitating work slowdowns over the past two months at terminals up and down the coast.”

Shippers in the San Francisco Bay Area – where the PMA and ILWU are headquartered – are witnessing first hand the congestion of container vessels attempting to call the Port of Oakland. As reported here last week, the port had initially welcomed the diverted traffic as it worked with terminal operators to keep more gates open. But dockside labor disruptions have complicated those efforts, and logistics managers may soon consider other supply chain options.