ILWU, Employers Take Off Gloves

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

Negotiations are turning nasty for the first time since the July 1 expiration of the ILWU contract with the Pacific Maritime Association. Both sides have been trading blame through the media for the work layoffs and container backups, which took place on the weekend of Nov. 1.

“[The] Tacoma [ports] ordered for the night-side [to come to work] but let everybody go at lunch,” said one longshore worker who asked for anonymity because he was unauthorized to speak to the media. “The PMA is short ordering the cranes, — six guys for five machines. The usual order is two guys per machine. Steady hammerhead operators ordering two guys per machine.”

His comments were in reference to Nov. 4.

On Nov. 3, the Pacific Maritime Association, in turn, issued a press release accusing the ILWU of orchestrating work slowdowns in an effort to cripple the ports in the Pacific Northwest. The PMA took the opportunity to frame the narrative by explaining that the two sides initially agreed to have an agreement by July 1 and that when that failed to materialized, the two sides agreed to “continue negotiating in good faith.”

“The ILWU has reneged on that agreement,” said Wade Gates, a spokesperson for the PMA.The ILWU International responded to the PMA saying they were engaging in a smear campaign and noted that the two sides had no such agreement.

“This is a bold-faced lie,” the union’s press release read. “No such agreement was ever made, nor could it be made given the parties’ historic disagreement regarding the definition of ‘normal operations’ – a disagreement that has been the subject of arbitrations for decades.”

The union also called false the PMA’s assertion that temporary contract extensions are standard practice.

According to the PMA, the slowdowns at the Tacoma and Seattle ports have reduced terminal productivity by 40 to 60 percent on average. For example, terminals that typically move 25 to 35 containers per hour were moving only 10 to 18, according to statistics compiled by PMA. The data tracks historical productivity based on the number of containers moved per hour for each vessel at the same terminal.

The PMA employers were forced to send workers home at mid-shift Nov. 2, after the union refused to go back to normal workplace practices.

“In Tacoma, the ILWU is not filling orders for skilled workers, including straddle carrier operators, who are critical to terminal operations,” Gates said. “This is like sending out a football team without the receivers or running backs. You can’t run the plays without them.”

Gates went on to accuse the union of deploying slow down tactics throughout its history, citing a Los Angeles Times article on the practice, a story published during the 2002 PMA lockout of the union.

“Often, the ILWU will make false or exaggerated claims of safety issues in order to justify unilateral actions that have repeatedly been found to be in violation of the coastwide contract,” Gates said. However there is currently no contract in place and no agreed upon arbitrator to settle these differences.

For its part, the union accused the PMA of attempting to shift work normally designated for longshore workers to other workers and refusing to negotiate on creating a retraining program to properly train longshore workers, while preventing non-qualified workers from operating the equipment.

As for the congestion in the Pacific Northwest ports, the union’s spokesman, Craig Merrilees credits it for changes in the employers’ business model, shortage in the number of truck drivers needed to move the truck chassis and a shortage of railcar capacity.

The union didn’t directly address the PMA’s accusations of deliberately initiating work slowdowns, but historically, the practice has been used to apply pressure on management while avoiding an outright strike.

The Marine Exchange reported that as of Nov. 5, there were nine container vessels, four break bulk containers, and one tanker waiting outside the Los Angeles harbor. Port of Los Angeles spokesman, Phillip Sanfield noted that the backlog of container ships outside the Los Angeles Harbor that feeds the twin ports has been slowly building up since the summer.

Meanwhile negotiations are continuing non-stop in San Francisco according to one source  close to those meetings. As of this week contract talks lasted until 1a.m one day and still seem not close to an agreement.