Ongoing labor negotiations between longshore workers and employers at West Coast ports, including in Long Beach and Los Angeles, may have stalled again this week — though the two sides also seem to be at odds over the current state of the talks.
The labor talks, now more than 1 year old, have frequently appeared fraught, with the lag in an agreement making some shippers skittish, causing them to favor ports in other parts of the country.
But tensions seem to have increased further this week.
“Today, the ILWU is staging concerted and disruptive work actions that have effectively shut down operations at some marine terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach,” the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents employers, said in a Friday, June 2, statement. “The union is also staging similar work actions that have shut down or severely impacted terminal operations at the ports of Oakland, Tacoma, Seattle and Hueneme.”
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s Local 13, however, disputed that characterization — while also lashing out at PMA.
“Cargo operations in the ports continue as longshore workers remain on the job,” the ILWU said in a Friday press release, though “(rank-and-file members) had taken it upon themselves to voice their displeasure with the ocean carriers’ and terminal operators’ position.”
An eventual contract would cover more than 22,000 longshore workers at 29 West Cost ports. The previous agreement expired on July 1, 2022, and talks began on May 10, 2022. The two parties meet in San Francisco for negotiations.
“Any reports that negotiations have broken down are false,” ILWU President Willie Adams said in a Friday statement. “We are getting there but it’s important to understand that West Coast dockworkers kept the economy going during the pandemic and lost their lives doing so. We aren’t going to settle for an economic package that doesn’t recognize the heroic efforts and personal…
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