Longshore labor

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.

After 13 months of contentious negotiations that spawned numerous job actions by dockworkers, the ILWU and waterfront employers will engage in a ratification process expected to take several months.

Labor woes along the West Coast over the past year highlighted a stark difference: Shippers on the East and Gulf coasts are customers whose business is valued, while West Coast shippers are not customers in the traditional sense, but more like helpless bystanders, writes Peter Tirschwell.

The deal, subject to ratification by both parties, ends 13 months of contentious negotiations marked by on-again, off-again job actions that disrupted port operations on the West Coast and diverted growing volumes of cargo to the East and Gulf coasts.

Minor progress in West Coast longshore talks came as ports operated without significant disruption on the first shift Wednesday, but were not completely spared some measure of labor action by workers.

The two sides will attempt to use the apparent truce brokered by Labor Secretary nominee Julie Su to reach agreement on the highly contentious issue of wages, which triggered disruptive job actions by ILWU locals over the past week.

The vote to authorize a strike at Vancouver and Prince Rupert comes as negotiations between the ILWU and maritime employers on the US West Coast appeared to hit a new low over the weekend.

Disruption flared at West Coast ports as the Biden administration’s nominee for Labor Secretary flew to San Francisco in a bid to break the impasse in contract negotiations that some fear are rapidly deteriorating.

The Pacific Maritime Association hopes Labor Secretary nominee Julie Su can get ILWU negotiators to move closer to a level of wage increases that puts an agreement within reach.

Talks between the ILWU and maritime employers continued Friday for a third straight day, which sources called a positive indicator with negotiations hitting the 13-month mark this weekend.

Cargo handling was back to normal Thursday in Los Angeles and Long Beach for the first time in a week, but the ports are now struggling with a large vessel backlog after not having sufficient longshore labor.