The Roundtable
February 9, 2010
The Roundtable
The Roundtable is where editors and experts meet to discuss key issues facing the global transportation and logistics community, from the highways to the high seas. It's an open forum, and you can comment on posts. If you'd like to be a Roundtable blogger, contact Chris Brooks at cbrooks@joc.com
“You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, well, you just might find you get what you need.” That line was used by the British philosopher Mick Jagger in a different context, but it could apply to the results of the just-ratified contract between the International Longshoremen’s Association and United States Maritime Alliance.
To sell the contract to his members, ILA President Richard Hughes needed to show wage increases, progress in narrowing gaps between wage tiers, an end to caps on carriers’ container royalty payments, and stronger contract language on technology and union jurisdiction. He got all of those things.
Container carriers, which dominate USMX’s membership, needed a contract that didn’t pile on extra costs at a time when they’re losing billions globally. They got it, in an agreement that pushes the next negotiations far enough down the road to give the economy a chance to recover.
Shippers needed a deal that would spare them from having to make contingency plans to deal with a possible strike next fall after the existing ILA contract expires. They got it, and must be relieved to have this measure of certainty in an uncertain economy.
ILA members needed a contract that would give them a chance to earn a middle-class living. They didn’t get everything they wanted (in true negotiations, no one ever does), but the deal provides wage increases that, especially for less-experienced workers, are substantial.
If there’s anyone that didn’t get what they needed, it was the Longshore Workers Coalition, an activist group that campaigned against the contract but was on the losing end of a 2-to-1 ratification vote.
LWC complaints about the contract apparently failed to offset ILA members’ desire for hard cash in the form of wages and benefits. Coalition leaders predict that the contract’s back-loading of wage increases and carrier-paid container royalties will put those issues back on the table when negotiations begin on the next contract in a couple of years.
If that happens, the coalition will have an issue it needs to try to rally ILA members. But maybe by then, a recovering economy will produce healthier cargo volumes – something the entire industry needs.
Contact Joseph Bonney at jbonney@joc.com.
