U.S. West Coast Ports Face New Crisis as Dockworkers Cease Contract Negotiations

Supplychain 24/7 ^ | November 21, 2014 | Patrick Burnson

[Vigilanteman]

Just when shippers thought things could not get any worse with the West Coast port labor “slowdown,” dockworkers proved them wrong.

The latest tactic employed by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has been to cease contract negotiations for next 12 days.

“We have made it abundantly clear that we believe these negotiations are of the utmost importance and should continue at full strength until the Thanksgiving holiday,” said Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) spokesman Wade Gates. “We are disappointed the Union is not showing the same urgency to resolve the issues between us.”

Three weeks after initiating a coordinated series of slowdowns that have mired the major West Coast ports of Tacoma, Seattle, Oakland, Los Angeles and Long Beach, the ILWU has pushed away from the bargaining table.

Despite a request from the Pacific Maritime Association to continue bargaining, the ILWU has decided to curtail “big table” negotiations starting today through the end of the Thanksgiving weekend – a 12-day break.

According to the PMA, the only bargaining through December 1 will be limited to sub-committees discussing limited issues, with most members of the ILWU’s negotiating committee taking an extended break.

[Vigilanteman]

Don't want to break my arm patting myself on the back, but I saw this coming back in May when I convinced the company higher ups to stop using the west coast as a port of entry and start clearing our cargo through the east coast. Our average cost has been and extra $80 and (formerly) five extra shipping days per container. Now, we are reaping the benefits as we have long-term contracts in place to hold the costs and place in line as the me-too crowd scrambles to find alternatives.

[ex91B10]

Five million illegals available: 50% off union price!

[Vince Ferrer]

When the Nicaraguan canal opens California will lose a lot of advantage over Gulf and East Coast ports.

[goodnesswins]

This article is old...says till after Thanksgiving

[Crazieman]

F those guys. I have orders on hold because of it.

[bkopto]

I’d love to see these longshoreman goons get the salary they truly deserve, a salary derived from the free market, not from their strong-arm tactics.

[matt04]

Just think, how may legal unemployed people wold love a good paying job and would work hard at it, not throw a temper tantrum when they don’t get their way. Fire them all.

[Vigilanteman]

50%? Try 25%. Average salary for the guys who drive fork trucks is around $90K per year; for the people who sit at typewriters (yes, typewriters, I kid you not) and fill out clearance documents is closer to $130K per year.

The last big strike in 2002 was triggered because the Maritime Association wanted to get non-union labor (in nearby right-to-work states like Arizona and Utah) to complete these documents with word processing type technology. Even when they gave up on the non-union labor, the longshoreman still insisted on typewriters since lower efficiency also equals more union goon employment.

[Vigilanteman]

Sorry I missed that. Article was cited in an e-mail I got today from 24/7. Situation has actually worsened since.

[goodnesswins]

How has it worsened?...just wondering

[RicocheT]

West Coast Longshoremen union holds Santa’s gifts hostage until their demands are met.

[Vigilanteman]

Here is today's article on the subject which gave me the link to the thread post.

Sounds like the other shippers are now scrambling to do what we already did in May.

[Spktyr]

Dear West Coast Dockworkers:

Texas thanks you for the additional traffic you are now driving to our Gulf ports.

[stubernx98]

The robots are coming, are coming!

[conservativeimage]

Ship US beef to Tokyo via east coast??

[Wuli]

The Canadian Pacific coast ports have been expanding their shipping market shares considerably the last three years.

And they have made $billions in investments in them, and

the Canadian Pacific railroad has invested $billions in Canada and the U.S. to move goods from the Pacific coast to the U.S. Midwest, and

their Pacific coast ports are 68 hours closer to Shanghai(shipping time, due to the curvature of the earth) than is Los Angles/Long Beach.

The people in charge of anything in California are simply nuts.

[Vigilanteman]

Ever heard of reefer containers? Frozen beef stays frozen in reefers. And there’s always Seattle-Tacoma and Vancouver to avoid LA/Long Beach.

[conservativeimage]

Ya, I haul reefer containers to Oakland. The last month has been more frustrating than normal. We’ve had problems getting containers to backhaul. My question was if shippers would actually consider sending beef to Japan through an east US port. Five extra days to ship via 48 states is about $100 an hour per truck plus the $80 you mentioned. I’m just curious how going far east the long way would be effective.

[Vigilanteman]

Good point. Frozen beef isn't a good candidate to ship by rail, so I suppose there would be a point somewhere east of the Mississippi where it would make sense to ship by the east coast.

West of the Mississippi, where most of the beef is produced, not so much.

[goodnesswins]

Thanks