Tentative Labor Agreement Brings Stability and Confidence, LA Port Director Claims

By G. Jordan Granucci, Editorial Intern

Four hundred days after the coastwide contract between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union expired, city leaders breathed a collective sigh of relief on June 14 when PMA President James McKenna and ILWU president Willie Adams announced a tentative agreement.

For more than a year, longshore workers on the west coast have been working without a contract, and shippers have been steadily rerouting cargo to avoid the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports.

City Councilman Tim McOsker was one of those who expressed his relief. 

“I’m thrilled that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association have come to a West Coast agreement,” McOsker said.

Mayor Karen Bass called the agreement a win. 

“This is a win for the working people of our City,” Bass said. 

Bass gave special recognition to the acting United States Secretary of Labor Julie Su, president of ILWU Local 13 Gary Herrera, and Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka. 

“Thank you to the dockworkers and terminal operators who continue to make our Port go – know that we will continue to do all we can to ensure it continues to prosper,” Bass said.

Still, in the weeks leading up to the announcement, the PMA accused the union of engaging in work stoppages. One of those alleged stoppages took place on June 1, during a regularly scheduled stop-work meeting for the ILWU, when it was revealed that the PMA had offered the dockworkers a $1.50 an hour raise with no pandemic work bonus pay despite some 42 union members dying from COVID -19 and the shipping companies and terminals raking in record-breaking profits during that period.

In the coming weeks, negotiators will meet about 90 delegates representing all the locals on the West Coast for the next several weeks reviewing the contract. The delegates represent all the locals on the West Coast. The Pacific Maritime Association will do the same with its membership.

The delegates are able to make a recommendation. After reviewing the contract, the text of the contract is mailed to the rank and file of the ILWU membership, who will then have the opportunity to discuss the contract with fellow members. After this, a secret ballot will be conducted to approve the contract.

In the unlikely scenario that the membership votes against the contract, the contract would be sent back to the negotiators to iron out the differences. 

Seroka was glad to hear that an agreement had been reached but said now it’s time “to go back out there and bring some strategy and value to the marketplace,” noting that 15% of the cargo that usually goes to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has moved to the East and Gulf Coast ports. 

Seroka said during a televised interview on Bloomberg News that importers and exporters were fearful of some labor disruption happening on the docks during this 13-month negotiation period.

“This is not new information either,” Seroka said. “For the past 20 years, we’ve seen market share declines on the West Coast go from an 80% share in 2002 to a 56% share today. We’ve got to recalibrate this and have an all-out industry push to bring this cargo back.” 

At this time, neither organization will be releasing details of the agreement, which is also subject to ratification by both parties.