International Longshore Warehouse Union News

The U.S. labor secretary on Tuesday met with unions and employers at the nation's busiest port complex in Southern California as anxiety builds ahead of next year's contract negotiations covering roughly 22,000 West Coast dockworkers.The contract expires in July, and the stakes are particularly high at the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex that handles some 40% of U.S. imports. Docks at the side-by-side ports are crowded with cargo boxes and more than four dozen container ships…

President Joe Biden is pushing to ease supply shortages and tame rising prices in time for Christmas, but unsnarling U.S. supply lines could take far longer, experts told Reuters.Biden brought together powerbrokers from ports, unions and big business on Wednesday to address shipping, labor and warehousing pain in the U.S. supply chain, and announced new around-the-clock port operations in Los Angeles.As his Republican opposition seizes on possible Christmas shortages to connect Biden's economic policies to inflation…

Arthur E. Imperatore, Founder and President of New York Waterways; Captain Donald Marcus, International President of the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots; and Christopher Wiernicki, Chairman, President and CEO of the American Bureau of Shipping, were recipients of the maritime industry's most prestigious Admiral of the Ocean Sea awards presented at the 47th annual United Seamen's Service gala industry dinner and dance October 28, 2016. The event was held at the at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel, New York City. Recognition was also given to American seafarers for specific acts of bravery and heroism while at sea. (See separate news release).

Port of Los Angeles container volumes decreased by 22.7 percent in January compared to January 2014 volumes, the port announced today. The port's January 2015 cargo volumes totaled 529,427 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), compared to 685,549 TEUs in January 2104. Labor strife between the International Longshore Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association, which resulted in port slowdowns and shutdowns, made a decline in container volume inevitable. The groups reached a tentative labor agreement last week after federal officials stepped in…

A face-off between economists on the cost of West Coast port slowdown on U.S. economy. Vital shipping ports on the West Coast are closing amid a labor dispute between shipping companies and longshoremen. Will the shutdown lead to major losses for businesses and the U.S. economy as a whole? A section of economists and trade experts say that a shutdown of 29 West Coast ports closures would have very little effect on the broader U.S. economy as the trade of goods through U.S. ports represents only a fraction of the nation's total economic output. The situation promises to create headaches for scores of U.S. companies, including McDonald’s Corp., Macy’s Inc., ConAgra Foods Inc. and Levi Strauss & Co. West Coast ports account for almost half of U.S.

The loading and unloading of cargo freighters is suspending at all 29 U.S. West Coast ports this weekend because of chronic slowdowns on the docks that shippers and terminal operators have blamed on the dockworkers' union, says a Reuters report. A statement from the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) said that loading and unloading of vessels at ports from San Diego to Bellingham, Washington, will be suspended from Friday through Monday morning. The announcement came as tensions mounted over negotiations on a new labor contract for 20,000 dockworkers, represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union that have dragged on for nearly nine months.

North Vancouver, BC — Jonathan Whitworth, Seaspan CEO, announced today that it has signed agreements with both the Canadian Merchant Service Guild (the Guild) and International Longshore Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 400 to enter into binding arbitration/mediation. Following extensive discussions with the Honourable Kellie Leitch, Minister of Labour and Minister of the Status of Women, Seaspan and both unions have agreed to allow the Federal Government to appoint an arbitrator who will run the process and be responsible for setting the terms of reference. Once the arbitration is complete, the outcome is binding and cannot be challenged by Seaspan or its unions.

The newly assembled Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners held its first meeting, with four of the five-member panel newly appointed by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Three of the commissioners are Harbor Area residents. The Harbor Commission is expected to elect its president and vice-president at the next Board meeting on December 12 th. “Spurring investment and creating job opportunities at our nation’s No. 1 Port is critical to Los Angeles and the entire country,” said Mayor Garcetti.

The Port of Hueneme held a Maritime Career Exploration Day at the Port on Wednesday. Attendees came to meet and talk with representatives of a half dozen companies doing business at the Port, groups that represented everything from a major shipping line to GAPS, an automobile processors. The event was held at the Port’s newly renovated Joint Operations and Security Center just outside the Port’s main entrance. In addition to the table displays, presentations were made by representatives of Del Monte, which imports fresh fruit through the Port, the Port administration and a recruiter for the National Maritime Academy at Kingspoint New York. The Career Exploration Day was the brainchild of Commissioner Jason Hodge.

The  International Longshore & Warehouse Union ILWU file a federal lawsuit against the Port of Portland & Bill Wyatt, its Executive Director. The ILWU filed a federal lawsuit against the Port of Portland and Bill Wyatt, its Executive Director, for unlawfully gifting nearly $5-million in public funds to a private Philippines-based company, ICTSI Oregon, Inc., and tens of thousands more to ocean carriers. The ILWU lawsuit seeks an injunction against the expenditures and demands that the illegally granted funds remain in public hands. “The Port violated the trust of local taxpayers when it gave $4.7 million in public funds to a private company that made $135 million in profits last year and whose CEO is worth $3.6 billion…

James McKenna, President and CEO of the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), and Robert McEllrath, President of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU), were presented with Connie Awards by the Containerization & Intermodal Institute (CII) at the first ever Connie dinner held on the West Coast. “The West Coast industry leaders have long requested that CII bring the prestigious Connie Awards to the region,” said Brendan McCahill, CII Chairman. Dr. Geraldine Knatz, Executive Director of the Port of Los Angeles, and James Spinosa, former ILWU president, introduced Mr. McEllrath.

The Administration's proposed tax to pay for harbor dredging is not a viable or equitable solution to funding navigation channel maintenance at the nation's ports, says the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA). AAPA and others testified at a House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Hearing on the Administration's Harbor Services Fund (HSF) proposal, H. R. 1947. The plan creates a new tax on vessels to replace the Harbor Maintenance Tax, the export-tax portion of which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1998. The administration proposal, submitted to Congress, but not yet introduced as a bill, would…

The Subcommittee on Border, Maritime & Global Counterterrorism of the House Committee on Homeland Security conducted an oversight hearing on Implementation of the SAFE Port Act. In his prepared statement, Committee Chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) noted that the transportation worker identification credential (TWIC) program and the container security device regulations are far behind schedule. Subcommittee Chair Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) expressed her interest in the C-TPAT third party validator pilot program, the empty container security pilot program, long range vessel tracking, and the TWIC program. Ms. Maurine Fanguy, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), discussed recent progress in implementation of the TWIC program.

Following a significant reduction in West Coast work stoppages by the International Longshore Warehouse Union (ILWU), the U.S. District Court issued a minute order tentatively dismissing the existing complaint filed by the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA). The suit, filed Sept. 4, 1998, sought to curtail ILWU work stoppages on West Coast ports. The PMA reluctantly filed the lawsuit against the ILWU after more than 150 work stoppages occurred at West Coast ports since the last negotiated contract in July 1996. A committee, comprised of PMA and ILWU representatives, has recently been formed with the objective to regularly discuss how developing technology can be implemented on the waterfront to provide improved customer service.

A dispute over the use of nonunion labor and wages that has shut down nearly all shipments through Canada's West Coast ports entered its fourth day Wednesday, with no sign of a resolution in sight. Most shippers have switched to ports in the U.S. since the lockout of longshore workers began on Sunday. But there was concern over added costs and possible congestion problems at alternative facilities. No negotiations are planned between the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) and the International Longshore & Warehouse Union of Canada, and both sides have rejected calls for the federal government to intervene.

A dispute over the use of nonunion labor and wages that has shut down nearly all shipments through Canada's West Coast ports entered its fourth day last Wednesday, with no sign of a resolution in sight. Most shippers have switched to ports in the U.S. since the lockout of longshore workers began on Sunday. But there was concern over added costs and possible congestion problems at alternative facilities. No negotiations are planned between the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) and the International Longshore & Warehouse Union of Canada, and both sides have rejected calls for the federal government to intervene. "There is no need for Ottawa to become involved," union President Tom Defresne said.

Shipments through Vancouver, Canada's busiest port, came to an almost complete halt as employers imposed a lockout on unionized longshore workers in a bid to force an end to a contract dispute. No talks are scheduled between the British Columbia Marine Employers Association and the unionized workers at the port of Vancouver, and federal officials have said the government has no immediate plans to force a settlement. The previous labor contract between employers and the International Longshore & Warehouse Union of Canada expired in 1998, and the two sides are at odds over several issues including wages and the use of non-union labor.

Maritime employers agreed last week to end a lockout at Canada's West Coast ports that stalled millions of dollars in cargo shipments for eight days in a dispute over wages and the use of nonunion workers. The British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA)accepted a government mediator's recommended settlement soon after the leadership caucus of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union also endorsed the proposal. The federal government had threatened to force a settlement on the two sides through back-to-work legislation if they did not end the dispute themselves last Monday. Although the union's general membership did not vote until Tuesday…