Longshore labor

Shippers who have built East and Gulf coast routings into their supply chains are taking no chances, raising the need for contingency plans in discussions with carriers and NVOs ahead of 2024 contract renewals.

The incident comes as dockworkers announced a further series of strikes this week at DP World's four Australian terminals in an ongoing row over new rostering arrangements.

Alongside broader talks on wages for its members, the International Longshoremen’s Association said individual ports need to use more union supervisors and foremen, particularly throughout the South.

The ILA president says further progress on a new master contract, as well as port-specific local deals, can’t happen until the two sides agree on coastwide pay hikes.

Ahead of an International Longshoremen’s Association conference, president Harold Daggett has warned union rank-and-file to be prepared for the “possibility of a coast-wide strike.”

Six amicus briefs have been filed to the US Supreme Court supporting the South Carolina Ports Authority’s position that the ILA is illegally forcing carriers to boycott Charleston’s Hugh Leatherman Terminal as a means to acquire jobs that belong to state employees.

The Georgia Ports Authority plans to open a third ocean terminal in Savannah in 2030 and says updating its current hybrid labor model to an all-union workforce could cost the port $600 million in its first operating year.

While neither side has made public its terms for a new collective bargaining agreement, sources familiar with the talks say the union is looking for a 20% increase in wages over four years and a faster seniority path for dockworkers.

Discretionary cargo is returning to the West Coast as the confidence of retailers is boosted by ratification of the longshore labor contract in late August and the ability of the ports to immediately handle more cargo.

The financial health of the powerful International Longshore and Warehouse Union is in jeopardy as the union seeks to avoid paying $19 million in damages to a Portland, Ore., terminal operator over disruptive job actions years ago.

Some 75% of union members participating in the vote agreed to ratify the tentative contract that was reached in mid-June, opening the door to labor peace at West Coast ports at least through mid-2028.

In addition to the typical annual planning, such as for budgets and freight rates, US importers need to start weighing contingency plans for two potentially disruptive occurrences next year — continued low-water levels along the Panama Canal and the expiration of the International Longshoremen’s Association contract, writes Lars Jensen.

Ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert are clearing out the backlog of containers that built up during the two weeks of dockworker strikes in July, with no significant vessel, rail or trucking delays to report, according to stakeholders.

Sources say USMX has made the ILA an offer on par with the increases the ILWU secured in its latest contract. However, the ILA also wants stronger protections for work jurisdiction and automation.

Negotiators for shipping lines and office workers in Los Angeles-Long Beach report that progress is being made in the ILWU Local 63 Office Clerical Unit (OCU) contract negotiations, but the two sides have work to do on the issues of wages, pension benefits and technology.

The latest lawsuit from International Longshoremen’s Association ups the damages the union is seeking from ocean carriers that used the Port of Charleston’s Hugh K. Leatherman terminal.

The disruption laid bare the limits the Trudeau government will exercise to push both sides to a deal that was ratified Friday by longshore union membership at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert.

Negotiators for ILWU Canada and waterfront employers reached a second tentative contract agreement late Sunday after the union’s membership rejected an initial deal that had been struck last week.

The membership of the International Longshore Warehouse Union Canada has rejected a four-year contract at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, which employers say would have included a 19.2%. compounded wage increase.

The latest decision upheld an initial ruling by the National Labor Relations Board that allowed the International Longshoremen’s Association to sue ocean carriers that called Charleston’s Leatherman terminal.

Only local unions at the ports of New York and New Jersey and Baltimore have come to tentative terms on local issues, with the ILA’s chief negotiator saying employers in other ports “have not taken the talks seriously.”

Maritime employers expect New Jersey State Police oversight of longshore hiring in the state will be easier and less burdensome than it was under the soon-to-be dissolved Waterfront Commission.

The president of the International Longshoremen’s Association says automation and new technology are an existential threat to union members and other maritime employees worldwide.

The rollercoaster developments of the past three weeks, which began with a 13-day strike by ILWU Canada on July 1, have disrupted cargo handling at Vancouver, Canada’s largest port and a gateway to US and Canadian markets.

The rejection of last week’s tentative contract deal by a caucus of ILWU Canada narrows the prospects of a resolution without one imposed by Parliament through back-to-work legislation.

Part of the new dynamic on the waterfront reflects wider transportation labor activism where rail, aviation, trucking and longshore workers have achieved or are seeking to achieve substantial enhancements in pay and work rules, writes Peter Tirschwell.

Forwarders, shipping lines and trucking interests are advising their customers it will take weeks — possibly into September — for operations at Prince Rupert and Vancouver to return to normal.

A union of construction equipment operators in New Jersey alleges the International Longshoremen’s Association sought to take away marine terminal work it was hired to perform.

The end of the strike comes less than two days after Canada’s Minister of Labour ordered the federal mediator overseeing negotiations between the union and employers to provide recommendations for a settlement.

If ILWU Canada or longshore employers reject the recommendations of a federal mediator, the next step will be for the Canadian government to reconvene Parliament, which is on summer recess, to address the situation.

The International Longshoremen’s Association says it is willing to wait as long as it takes to control the jobs it believes belong to the union at South Carolina’s new Leatherman terminal.

With the strike by ILWU Canada now in its 11th day, some C$7.5 billion in Canadian imports and exports has been compromised thus far, the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association says.

ILWU Canada and employers are engaging with federal mediators as a backlog of vessels builds outside of Vancouver and Seattle-Tacoma as the Western Canadian dockworker strike enters its second week.

The strike by ILWU Canada, which entered its sixth day Thursday, is expected to have an increasing impact on Canada’s trans-Pacific trades if it drags into next week and beyond.

Canadian business groups are pleading for Parliament to return to Ottawa and pass back-to-work legislation to end the ILWU Canada strike, but it will likely take days for the upper and lower houses to pass such legislation, if they heed the call.

The pressure is on the Trudeau government to use its political capital to force a deal between employers and longshore workers at the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert after the latter began a strike Saturday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is generally viewed within the Canadian shipping industry as having acted too slowly — and weakly — when containerized supply chains were significantly disrupted over the last three years, notes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

The union filed a 72-hour strike notice, which includes the Port of Vancouver, claiming maritime employers have refused to negotiate on the main issues of compensation and automation.

The legislation comes less than two weeks after West Coast waterfront employers and the ILWU struck a tentative deal for a new labor contract after 13 months of contentious talks that saw the union slow down port operations on numerous occasions.

In addition to a 32% increase in dockworker wages over the life of the six-year deal, the tentative US West Coast longshore labor agreement includes a one-time $70 million bonus for staying on the job during the COVID-19 pandemic.