Longshoremen, stevedores and other dock workers at at West Coast ports have been working without a contract since June and while collective bargaining continues with dock owners, the two sides appear to be drifting further apart.
Earlier this month, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) issued a statement claiming the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) “dishonestly” accused the union of breaking a spoken agreement that port operations would continue under the auspices of a temporary contact extension.
“Pressure Tactics”
Union leaders claim management has been using “pressure tactics” to push labor to accept an agreement, including shifting ocean container chassis away from union crews and refusing to train union workers on mechanized terminal equipment.
Meanwhile, slowdowns at West Coast ports has resulted in increased congestion, causing some manufactures and retailers to worry about the future of US agriculture and forest product exports. A coalition of 61 national and regional agriculture organizations recently sent a letter to President Barrack Obama asking him to intervene in the labor dispute to protect the export of such items as Christmas trees to Asia and potatoes to Russia.
“Christmas trees that are not exported will miss the holiday season in Asia completely,” said Peter Friedmann, executive director of the Agriculture Transportation Coalition. “Potatoes that are not exported and will likely be a painful loss for the farmers whose entire year is dependent upon current shipments. The same for apples and other US exports. Foreign customers are already canceling orders and turning to other countries to satisfy their needs.”
Shippers Charging “Congestion Fees”
Some container lines that run between US and Asia have even started charging “congestion fees” of up to $1,000 per 40-foot container in response to labor-related terminal delays.
If negotiations continue to break down, a labor strike could cripple the US supply chain. West Coast ports handle more than two-thirds of all US retail container cargo and most of the cargo arriving from Asia. While an expansion of the Panama Canal is expected to open up East Coast ports to the Panamax super-freighter cargo ships that commonly are used for Asian imports, the deepening and widening of the canal won’t be finished until later this year and the full benefit won’t be felt until later in 2015, at the earliest.
Strike Could Be Costly to US Economy
The deadline for a new contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents port owners, expired June 30. But both sides have publicly declared that they are committed to avoiding the type of cargo disruptions that occurred in 2002, when a strike shut down West Coast ports for 10 days, creating a backlog that took several months to be cleared. That disruption cost the US economy an estimated $15 billion in reported losses.
The ILWU, which represents 14,000 port workers at 29 ports from San Diego to Seattle, has threatened to go on strike if a new agreement can’t be reached. The last work stoppage, which occurred in 2002, lasted 10 days and caused an estimated $15 billion in reported losses and created a backlog of cargo that took several months to be cleared.